Uncharted: Terrorist Games
by Midnite Solistace
Summary: COMPLETE: Set in-between the events of Uncharted 2 and 3. Nate and Elena get trapped in the world of of a power hungry terrorist who's looking to uncover a long lost secret. Nate must go to new highs and new lows to survive and protect the one he loves. Enjoy :D
1. Shadowed

**AN:** Hiya everyone, can't get enough of Drake and Elena so I'm carrying on their story. Set after Uncharted 2 so you should probably have finished that first, or at least know what happens and don't care about spoilers :P

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Nate, or Elena, or Sully, or whoever else. That privilage goes to Naughty Dog.

Anyway please enjoy and please review, even if its just a sentence, it brightens my day :D

* * *

**Shadowed**

Elena awoke from her sleep feeling very, very drowsy. Groggily she looked over at the alarm clock to see it read 4.03am. She still had a few hours sleep left. She could hear Nate's deep breathing next to her so she tried to settle back down and fall asleep to the rhythm of his breathing patterns. It didn't work and within minutes she had leapt out of bed and threw her head into the toilet bowl. Retching up god only knows what she tried to hold her hair up with her free hand that wasn't gripping the seat. Nate came up behind her clad in his pyjama pants and took over the job of holding her hair and began rubbing her back soothingly.

"What did you eat?" Nate joked, trying to sound sympathetic.

In between retches, Elena managed to say, "I have no idea. Urrgh…" She threw her head back into the toilet, flushing every minute or so.

After fifteen minutes or so her stomach began to calm down, and after brushing her teeth, Nate tucked Elena back into bed before settling in beside her. When morning came around Nate was up and dressed and brought in a cup of coffee. He kissed her before handing her the cup. It smelt revolting, forcing a smile she set it on the bedside table. "Thanks. I might see if I can stomach it in a minute."

"Sure, now I've called your boss for you letting him know you've been sick so you're spending the day in bed."

Relaxing back into the pillows she smiled; "Sounds like fun."

Nate grinned. "And as much as I would love to join you I've got a lot of research to get through. I'll just be in the living room if you need me so try and get some more sleep."

Elena smiled as she shut her eyes again. Nate always tried to take good care of her. The grenade scare in Tibet had really gotten to him; even though it was almost a year ago now. She managed to sleep until lunchtime before feeling restless so Elena got up and showered and dressed. She then went into the bathroom again and opened up the bathroom cupboard. 'How strange is it that the answer to such an important question can be found by peeing on a stick?' She thought. 'Here goes nothing…' after using the test and then pacing around the bathroom for three minutes she looked at the result. Two lines. Looking from the box to the test and back to the box she was stunned. Two lines is a positive result. She was suffering morning sickness. They were having a baby.

* * *

Elena slowly walked into the living room where Nate was sprawled over maps and open books across the floor.

"Nate?"

He looked up. "Oh there you are." He jumped up. "I'm just heading out you want me to pick you up anything?"

She shuffled uncomfortably. "Actually, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"I'll be one hour I'm just going to meet Sully I need to throw some idea's past him…"

"…It's important." Elena cut him off.

By her tone Nate knew she was serious. He walked over to her, "Tell you what, I'll be one hour tops, then I'll come back here, cook something nice and we can have a nice long discussion, you'll have my full attention. Whaddya say?"

She folded. "One hour?"

"One hour I promise." He kissed the top of her forehead before grabbing his bag and heading out the door.

Twenty minutes after Nate had left Elena had settled down on the couch to rest when she heard some noises coming from the street. She got up and crossed to the window to see three men trying to break into the apartment. Panicking for a minute Elena went into the bedroom and opened up the wardrobe, Nate kept a gun in there for protection. Loading it she grabbed her cell phone and dialed Nate's number.

"For once in your life Nate pick up," He usually had it switched off or on silent when he was working. She cursed as it ticked over to the answer phone. She crouched down, hiding behind the doorway.

"Nathan Drake here, I'm either hanging off a cliff-face or being shot at right now, but leave me a message and I'll get back to you when I have a minute to catch my breath."

* * *

Nate sat at Sully's bar when he looked at the clock. "Oh wow, an hour and a half, I'm gonna get it from Elena now." He joked. As he looked for his phone he said to Sully, "You know, I can't be sure but I think I'm being followed, I've had that weird 'you're being followed' vibe for a couple of weeks now. Oh shit." He said as he saw one missed call from Elena on his screen. Dialling into the answer phone Sully watched as Nate's face turned pale.

"Nate, there are three men breaking into the apartment, and they are big. For God's sakes pick up…pick up, pick up, pick up." He could hear men's voices in the background, and then a struggle. He heard Elena groan as the phone was forced out of her hands followed by a gunshot, then a second shot was fired and the message went dead.

* * *

**AN:** I know it's short, there's more written but it's late and I wanted to test the waters to see what people think. If you wanna read more, make sure u tell me. :D


	2. Freddy

AN: Well I'm so glad the first chapter got such glowing reviews, and so many too. Sorry for the slight delay it took me a while to decide on something for Nate to go after. But I found something so yay. Enjoy :D

**

* * *

Freddy**

Elena struggled to hold onto the phone for dear life, but she let it fall to use her other hand to steady her gun. She aimed at the largest of the men and fired off a shot. It hit him square in the shoulder. The man began to bleed out onto the rug but it didn't seem to faze him. She aimed to fire again but was grabbed by one of the other two men in an effort to wrestle the gun off her. She fired two more shots which hit the ceiling. Elena held on and wouldn't let go. A third man picked up the discarded phone and hung it up; ending the message Elena had left for Nate. She was flung into the bedside table knocking it over and her gun slipped out of her fingers and into the hands of her attackers. The man who had pushed her grabbed her, pulling Elena's arms up behind her back. She gasped in pain, still struggling she tried to fight back but they had her now.

"What do you want?"

The man holding the cell phone was the one in charge. He stepped forward. Two of the men were clearly American while the ringleader almost sounded British. "I want your boyfriend's research on the mountain ranges of Machu Picchu in Peru."

"Machu Picchu? That place is just a tourist trap, why would you want to go there?"

"Now now, that isn't for you to know about just yet. You two go and grab everything you can find from Drake's resources. We weren't expecting anyone to be here so as a bonus; you my dear are going to come with us as a little insurance." He told Elena, forcing her forward by the arm.

"Nate's not my boyfriend, I'm just his tenant. In fact he doesn't give a damn about me really, he finds me quite irritating actually." Elena lied through her teeth.

"Nice try sweetheart, but there's pictures of you two all loved up around the place. Now get moving."

"Ow." Elena complained as her arm was twisted again. "If you're going to abduct me you could at least let me put on some comfortable shoes!"

* * *

Nate broke all speed limits on his way back to the apartment. He arrived to find the lock on the door busted and the door slightly ajar. He had his gun loaded and pointed out in front of him as he stepped through the door, with Sully just behind him.

"Elena?" He asked loudly looking around. The living room was a mess; there were books and papers strewn all around. These people were obviously looking for something. They entered the bedroom. The bedside table had been tipped over; a lamp lay broken on the floor. There was a pool of blood at Nate's feet and two holes in the ceiling. It looked like Elena had given these people a hell of a fight. Nate looked at Sully in disbelief who put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "She'll be ok Nate. Elena's a smart girl."

"I'm ringing her. I can't see her phone anywhere which hopefully means she's got it on her."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Sully asked.

"No, but right now I don't see many other options here." Nate replied; dialing the number.

Elena's captors had taken her to a car and they were driving to an undisclosed location. Her phone started ringing and the British man picked it up. Holding it to Elena's ear he said calmly. "Answer it."

"Go to hell." She replied coolly.

"Very well." The man pressed the receiver button and held it up to his own ear. "Elena Fisher's telephone."

"Who is this?" Nate asked angrily. "Where's Elena?"

"Oh I assure you Mr. Drake, she is quite safe. It is you that I wish to speak to."

"Well forgive me if abducting my girlfriend doesn't make me feel very talkative." Nate spat back.

"Well I don't see any reason why we can't end up all being good friends. Although I must say, Ms. Fisher is quite the feisty one. If she doesn't learn to control that temper of hers I may have to find a way to fix that."

"You lay a finger on her you bastard and I'll kill you myself." Nate threatened.

"Now Mr. Drake, enough with all the hostility please. My name is Frederick and you are going to do some work for me. I have already taken the liberty of collecting your research on the subject. Tell me what I must do to receive your co-operation please."

"You can let my girlfriend go for a start."

"I am afraid that is impossible."

"Then we have a real problem here Freddy." Nate breathed a deep sigh; he couldn't believe he was actually bargaining with these people. "Here's the deal, I'm going to meet with you and your men in person and you're going to bring Elena with you. I want to see that she is unharmed before I agree to anything. It can be a public place, out in the open, just to reassure you that I'm not going to try anything dirty to get her away from you. Then once I see she's safe I'll start negotiating any business plans you have for me. Deal?"

"Very well Mr. Drake, but I think you will find it is I who will be doing the negotiating. I will contact you on this number in an hour with a time and a location for this meeting. Until then, I'll be making sure my men take good care of Ms Fisher."

Nate seethed with rage as the line went dead.


	3. History Lesson

Well here's the next chapter, thank you so much everyone for the positive feedback. This would of come faster but I had a lot of research to do for this chapter. Now I know how the writers for the game must feel. Anyway enjoy.

Oh and Elena's trains of thought are in _Italics_.

**

* * *

History Lesson**

Elena's insides gelled uneasily inside her stomach as the car continued to drive. The windows were tinted, inside and out with a partition separating the backseat from the drivers. It was disorientating to say the least, and her morning sickness was not agreeing with her. Not to mention she had no idea where she was. She was in the back seat with two of her captors. She had learnt their names as Rico; the one she had shot in the shoulder. Rico was the muscle; Elena thought that even Nate would have trouble taking this guy down in a fist fight. The second man Jacob was much gentler. He took care not to manhandle her so much as she was moved around and had even smiled at her once or twice. If she was going to have a hope in hell of getting out of this Elena knew she would need to make a friend on the inside. Jacob would quite possibly be this friend. She had no chance as long as Rico was around though. As her stomach once again reminded her that she wanted to vomit; Elena leaned forward to yell through the partition.

"Freddy? How much longer is it until we get where we're going?"

Grimacing, Frederick turned and opened the partition. "My dear, if you would be so kind as to address me properly. My name is Frederick."

"Well I'm supposed to be relaxing on the sofa with my feet up so we can't all have what we want can we Freddy?" Elena said smartly. "I suppose I should have warned you but you decided to break into our apartment on a really bad day, I've been up all night vomiting, and I don't think it's quite passed yet, so unless my buddy Rico here wants to get covered in my bodily fluids I would suggest you pull the car over." Elena did a fake upheaval for emphasis. Sighing, Freddy pulled the car over.

Rico reached over and unlocked the door, and Elena threw her head out into the gutter and started emptying her stomach. She was very aware the Rico was hovering over her, waiting for her to try an escape. Elena looked up in between retches to try and work out where she was. It looked like they were on some sort of desert road. There were fields of grass as far as the eye could see. _No buildings…nothing to hide behind…..unless, that grass was pretty tall_. _But where would she go? Screw it, she was running out of vomit_. She felt a hand start rubbing her back comfortably. Elena felt terrible for doing this. She flung her head back, head butting Jacob square in the nose. It distracted Rico long enough for Elena to scramble out of the car and start running for the grass. It was about mid-length but if she could get in far enough maybe she could hide. She dared not look behind her. She could hear Freddy's thick accent yelling at Rico to find her. Tripping she fell onto the ground. Panicking; Elena knew the best course of action now was to stay incredibly still. She could hear the grass swish around her as Rico tried to zone in on her location. Elena didn't dare move, she hardly dared to breathe. She could tell Rico was walking past her a meter or so, he was walking right past her, he was going to miss her. Elena shut her eyes…praying even. That was when it happened. A dust cloud blew up her nose causing her to sneeze. _Oh shit!_ She felt a hand grab her hair and pull her up.

"Owwww!" She cried. Rico had her and started dragging her back to the car. She struggled as much as she could but this guy could be a professional wrestler the way he was built. She did the last thing she could think of before giving up. As Rico tried forcing her back into the car, Elena turned, kicking him where no man deserves to be kicked.

Doubling over in pain; Rico relinquished his hold on her, throwing Elena forward. Her head collided with the top of the door and she fell unconscious into the dirt.

* * *

When she came to Elena found herself bound and gagged lying on the back seat of the car. It was only her and Jacob this time. Rico was riding up front with Frederick.

When he saw that she was awake Jacob leant forward and removed the gag from her mouth. "I'm sorry they're treating you like this."

Elena shook the hair out of her face, smiling at his kindness. "I'm sorry I hit you before."

"I don't blame you."

"You're not like Rico and Freddy, why do you work for people like this?"

"It's complicated. Look, you seem like a smart girl. Rico's all muscle and Frederick is the brains. I'm just the right hand man. Frederick may not look like much; but trust me. Do not make him angry."

"Let me guess, this is why I'm tied up? Freddy's pissed off?"

"This is nothing. There are no boundaries with him if he's really angry. He'll go to any lengths to get what he wants."

"I'm not scared of him."

"You should be. I just hope your boyfriend can deliver what Frederick is looking for, for your sake."

* * *

The car pulled up at a little café. Elena had no idea where she was. She was untied, mostly. Her hands were still tied in front of her. The three men led her towards a table and Rico pushed her down into a seat. Elena's face was bruised down one side from where she had hit her head. It was throbbing like mad but she tried not to think about it. She spotted Drake and Sully standing across the other side of the café's courtyard and breathed a sigh of relief. Sully spotted the three of them first, pointing her out to Nate. He crossed the courtyard in seconds.

"Elena, thank god." He took hold of her bound hands on top of the table. "Are you alright?" He saw the bruises on her face. Touching them lightly he said in disgust; "Did they do this to you?"

Rico pushed Nate away from Elena before Frederick spoke up. "Those bruises are simply a reminder for Ms. Fisher that I do not look kindly upon escape attempts."

Sullivan took the cigar out of his mouth to speak; "So you beat the girl up that's real classy."

"Actually she fell. Didn't you sweetheart?" Freddy said; his hands on her shoulders and his face next to hers; taunting Nate.

"Pushed would be the accurate word." Elena squirmed away from him. "Don't touch me."

"She's quite cute isn't she Mr. Drake? I could see myself becoming very closely acquainted with her actually."

Nate rose to his feet, ready to punch him. Sully put a hand on Nate's shoulder, trying to calm him.

"Hold it kid. Take it easy. You brought us hear to talk business, so lets talk." Sully addressed the men.

"Yes please, sit down. There's no need for this to be unpleasant." Fredrick said. "Although Rico if you would be so kind perhaps you could remind Mr. Drake not to try anything idiotic."

On that note Rico stood behind Elena's chair, sticking a revolver to her back.

"Now. Mr. Drake how well do you know the story of the Inca Civilization?"

Nate sat back in his chair. "The Incas were an ancient society that came about in Peru during the 13th century. They built large stone cities up in the mountains and worshipped a number of gods; their king was the sun god I think. The Incas expanded their empire into other parts of South America; Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile. Then around 1592 a Spanish conquistador named Francisco Pizzaro led an expedition to conquer the territory and civil war broke out between the Spaniards and the Incas. After that my knowledge is limited, I know the Spaniards brought disease with them which spread and slowly wiped out the remaining Incas."

"Very good Mr. Drake, your knowledge of history impresses me. But can you tell me about what I'm really looking for?"

"Money? If you want treasure from the Incas your stiff out of luck. The Spaniards looted the cities when they conquered the area. The ruins of the ancient cities up the mountain fared much the same. Except for Machu Picchu. The Spaniards missed those ruins and they weren't re-discovered until 1911 by an American professor named Hiram Bingham. All of the artifacts from Machu Picchu went to Yale University where Bingham lectured at and these days the place is over-run with tourists."

Frederick smiled. "Very impressive. Now I will tell you my story. I have recently visited the ruins of Machu Picchu myself. While traipsing across the mountainside; admiring the sights I had the misfortune to trip and fall down a chasm of rock and dust about a hundred meters or so. As I rose to my feet I noticed a glinting from the cliff-face beside me. Whether erosion or my well placed fall uncovered this glinting I cannot be certain. However when I scraped at the rock I uncovered this."

He pulled a small rock from his pocket. It could fit in the palm of his hand and was smooth to the touch. It was a deep red colour but seemed to be cut into a specific oval shape.

"May I?" Nate asked; his hand outstretched. He turned it over in his hands looking at every inch of it. "I've never seen anything like this before. This shape is perfect, too perfect for it to be naturally shaped this way. You said it glints?"

"Yes you have to hold it at the right angle to hit the sun." Freddy replied. Nate held the stone up, rotating it until it began to reflect the sunlight.

"But this is stone. I don't understand. What does it do?" Nate asked.

"Well I was hoping this was where your expertise could come in."

"Your guess is as good as mine buddy. I wouldn't have a clue."

"Then you will find out for me."

"And where do you propose I start? How do you even know if this is anything?"

"How can it not be? Look at it. This is something unnatural. Perhaps you should start by researching some old Incan text. There must be some around that could possibly give us a clue as to what this stone is."

Nate ran his hands through his hair frustrated. "You obviously haven't finished your homework Freddy. Unlike every other ancient civilization the Incans had no form of writing. The Egyptians had hieroglyphics; Mesopotamia and the Babylonians even used clay; but the Incans; well they just didn't."

Frederick raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I mean they did have what scholars believe was a number counting system using cotton threads but to this date it hasn't been proven that they used these for writing." Nate explained.

"Ok enough with the goddamned history lesson." Sullivan interrupted. "You want Nate to look into this stone. What happens when he's done that; Elena's free to go?"

Frederick considered this for a moment before replying. "When Mr. Drake has found something on this stone then I am willing to re-negotiate what happens to Ms. Fisher."

Nate shook his head. "But this could take months. I don't think you understand what you're asking me to do. You want me to look into something that there is no record of and no-one alive is going to know what this is." He protested.

"Well I suggest you get started."

Nate stood up. "No. I want no part of this; I've given you enough to get you started. I'm taking Elena and we're going home right now."

Freddy pulled a gun from his coat this time; pointing it at Nate. "I suggest you sit back down Mr. Drake. It would be a pity to have to kill you."

Elena knew then that she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and decided to play the only card she had.

"Can I say something please?" The table turned their attention on her. "You say this is going to take months? Well I have a confession to make. This stomach bug; the cause behind all of this vomiting; it's no stomach bug; but it's going to last nine months." She hinted.

A moment of silence passed before Sully nudged Drake in the ribs. "Nate; you sly dog."

Nathan sat there completely missing the point and looking utterly confused. "Nine months?"

Elena sighed. "Nate you really are a goof sometimes."

It took him another moment but Nate finally clicked on. "Whoa; hang on. You're pregnant?"

Elena smiling; nodded. "We're having a baby."

"But how?" Nate was dumbfounded.

"You want a biology lesson; now?" Elena joked shaking her head. She turned her attention back to Frederick. "So if this silly crusade you're pursuing is going to take months you may want to reconsider this hostage situation. You think I'm annoying now? Give me another month or two I'll be driving you up the wall. Trust me. You do not want to be hauling a pregnant lady around."

"We could just kill her now?" Rico said from behind Elena.

"Then you'll get nothing from me; except for a bullet to the head." Nate said quickly.

"Well it appears we have a situation. Perhaps Ms. Fisher's condition will motivate you to work faster in your studies Mr. Drake. I shall be keeping in regular contact with you to check on your progression. We will then re-asses the situation when the need arises." Freddy told them.

"When the need arises?" Elena protested. "I could be waddling by then. I do not waddle!"

Nate took her hand comfortingly. "Everything's going to be fine Elena. I'm going to get you out of this I promise."

"I do not think there is anything more to discuss. I suggest you get to work Mr. Drake." Frederick said. "Rico; kindly escort Ms. Fisher back to the car." He then pocketed his stone and stood up following behind Jacob and Rico as he manhandled Elena back towards the car.

Nate put his head in his hands as it dawned upon him how desperate this situation had become, and how hopeless he felt.


	4. Commitment

**AN:** I am so very sorry about the wait. Just over a month until my upcoming nuptials; that and work and Christmas arrgh. Anyway I've had so many wonderful readers nagging me for this story but I love that I truly do so please enjoy.

**

* * *

Commitment**

Nate and Sully sat at the table in silence for a few minutes as Nate processed the situation.

"Kid?" Sullivan asked.

Nate looked up. "This is my fault Sully. All of it. Elena said she wanted to talk to me about something; it would have been the pregnancy, if I'd just stayed when she'd asked…"

"If you'd stayed those three men would have still broken in, still trashed the house and probably still have taken Elena. You can't beat yourself up about this Nate."

"Forget all of this Machu Picchu business my number one priority here is to make sure Elena is safe; I'll deal with this the old fashioned way." Nate pulled his gun out and loaded it.

Sully put a hand on Nate's gun to lower it. "Hold it right there cowboy lets just consider the consequences for a minute shall we?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Think of it this way. You charge in there; guns blazing. Freddy here knows now that he has the upper hand on you. He's not holding one life hostage anymore but two. Now when you and Elena get out of this; you go home you've got a newborn to raise. That costs money and lots of it. Now suppose this jerk off is actually onto something with that fancy stone of his…"

"No, no, no, NO Sully I see where you're going with this I am in no way indulging this little fantasy of his, Machu Picchu is worthless."

"But how do you know that, really? I'm just suggesting we do a little research a little digging, and it will buy us some time to work out what to do next. If this is all a dead end then so be it but if it's not…we do what we do best, we screw this guy over as revenge for taking your girl, we go home a lot richer than when we left and everyone's happy."

"You really believe that you're right about this?"

"I didn't get rich by being wrong kid."

"But you're not rich. You're broke." Nate laughed. "You're never rich for long."

"Well we can't take it with us; might as well spend it." Sully replied. "And don't worry too much about Elena. She won't let them push her around."

"Yea, that's what worries me."

* * *

Nate and Sullivan spent the next day in the local library sprawled over every book detailing Incan history and the ruins at Machu Picchu. Apart from learning a few things he hadn't known, Nate felt like they'd made no progression at all. He stretched back in his chair yawning. "This is ridiculous, we're getting nowhere."

"Break time; let's go sit outside for a bit clear our heads." Sully suggested.

The two of them sat on the library steps. "So kid; you never told me that you and Elena were trying for a baby." Sully tried to change the subject and take Nate's mind off things.

"We weren't. In fact we were the furthest away from planning to have a baby as you can be."

"You two were arguing again?"

"Not exactly. I asked her to turn down a really big job opportunity, a documentary about underground arms dealers; because I thought it was too dangerous."

"Hits a little too close to home?"

"Exactly. It's only been a year since that grenade scare. She said she understood but I could tell she was pretty pissed about it. She thinks I'm too much of a hypocrite that I go off and do whatever I like but when it comes to her I'm too protective."

"You don't think she has a point?"

"Sully she almost died." Nate protested.

"But she didn't."

"Maybe I should have stayed with Chloe."

Sully raised an eyebrow.

"I mean at least with Chloe I didn't care what happened to her. I mean, I cared, but I knew she could take care of herself. I wasn't wracked with worry and guilt every second."

"But you didn't love Chloe."

"And that's what made everything so easy."

Sullivan took a deep breath. "Nate, I'm not your father, but I'd like to think I'm the closest thing you've got. Now I can't tell you how you should feel, but last year, when you were in Nepal with Chloe and Elena, when did you realize what girl you wanted, was it when the grenade hit?"

Nate sat and thought about it for a minute, then shook his head. "No. Long before that. When we first met Lazarevic, he had a gun to Elena's head, they took Chloe hostage. We'd just escaped and it was raining. I don't think either of us really believed we were alive. Deep down I think I knew then. I mean I went after Chloe because I owed it to her, I was supposed to be her boyfriend. But Elena and I; I felt like I was fifteen again and you're with a girl and you'll find any excuse to brush up against her, you don't always mean to but your body just does it you know? Then when I was away from her, well I was focused on finding Chloe but then my mind would switch and I'd be thinking about when I'd see Elena again. And now she's pregnant. I mean this is huge. This is why Nathan Drake does not do serious relationships; I think I have a real problem with commitment."

"I think I need a cigar to get through this one." Sully lit one up and put it to his mouth with a grin.

"I've made a lot of enemies in my time, things are fine when it's just me they've got to threaten, now Elena's in trouble; what happens when we have a kid to consider, it's another person for them to target to get at me, another person I love that I've got to save."

"Kid I think you're over analyzing the situation. You have to settle down eventually; maybe this is telling you that it's almost time."

"Maybe."

Sully finished his cigar and the two of them got to their feet. "Time to call it a day I think. Let's go clean up those books and go get a drink."

* * *

Nate called Frederick early the next morning.

"Ah, Mr. Drake. How goes the research?"

"Books are going to get us nowhere. I'm going to need that stone of yours."

"And why precisely is that?"

"Because I'm going after the artifacts that Bingham sent to Yale and I would like the stone to compare the other artifacts with. And since you've as good as hired me you get to pay for my travel expenses." Nate bargained.

"Very well then. I will have Jacob deliver the stone to you."

"How is Elena?"

"Rico is taking very good care of her."

"I want to speak to her." Nate shuddered at the thought of Rico anywhere near Elena.

A moment later Elena's voice came through the phone and Nate smiled at the sound of her voice.

"Nate?"

"Hey you how are you holding up?"

"I'm not being treated too badly for a hostage; they let me sleep on a couch last night which is a step up from the floor."

"This is all my fault I'm so sorry."

"It's not Nate; honestly; I'll be fine for a few more days."

"Hopefully it won't take that long. I'm working as fast as I can."

"I know. Nate…about the baby, I'm sorry you had to find out like that."

"Yeah…I was really….surprised." Nate was not ready for this conversation.

"…and?"

"And?" He tried to sidestep the issue.

"Well I know we didn't plan this, I'd like to know how you feel about it, you're face at the café didn't give much away." She pressed.

"Look sweetheart, something's come up," he lied. "I've gotta go but I'll see you in a few days I promise."

"Nate,"

"Yup?"

"I love you."

"Yeah me too." He hung up the phone.

* * *

When Nate landed in Connecticut he called Sully to fill him in. "I'm meeting my old University room-mate to see if he can make heads or tails of this stone."

"Yes Sully I went to University, I mean it wasn't Ivy League or anything but it was a decent institution."

"Why did I never graduate? You think I could be bothered actually taking exams?" Nate chuckled down the phone.

"I dropped out after my first year but it's not like I didn't learn anything. I spent the time wisely, when I wasn't chatting up the girls in my dorm I was learning languages and history and geography. Jasper; my room-mate was a complete brain-box who usually wrote half my essays for me and was smart enough to pass them off as mine it was great."

"Yes I'll let you know what I find out, talk to you later."

Jasper Haughney had come a long way in life since being Nathan Drake's room-mate. He was now a Professor at Yale whose area of expertise was History and Architecture. It was a surprise to say the least when through the middle of a lecture Drake himself slipped into the lecture hall and took a seat in the front row.

When the lecture was finished Nate approached his old friend with a hug.

"Nathan Drake, this is most certainly a shock."

"You're not the easiest person to track down mate. Teaching at Yale, I'm impressed."

"Thank you. So tell me what you're doing with yourself. Would I be correct in assuming this is not purely a social call?"

Jasper and Nate went for lunch and Drake filled him in on how he was being blackmailed to look into the stone Frederick had found at Machu Picchu.

"The museum collections are easy enough to view Nathan; the galleries are open to the public." Jasper told him.

"Yes but what if I needed to inspect certain artifacts more closely than others?"

"What exactly are you asking me for Nate?"

"Schematics, security details, things to that effect."

"And lose my job in the process."

"Not if we're smart my friend, which you are by the way. No-one needs know that you're involved, I just need the schematics. And if you're asked if anything were to go missing you can answer truthfully and say you know nothing about it. You know I wouldn't ask but I'm desperate. My girlfriend's life is at stake."

"I'll see what plans I can find for you Nate but that's all."

"Thank you Jazz. So tell me, in your professional opinion; Machu Picchu is worthless? A dead end as far as hidden treasure's concerned."

"Well as far as History is concerned the Architecture is the treasure. Any artifacts or treasure have been found. Although it is entirely possible that the Incan's still keep some secrets. But if I were searching for something I would look more towards Machu Picchu's sister site. It is far less known and explorers have been far less interested."

"Sister site?"

"Yes it's name is Choquequirao. The only way to reach it is a two day hike from the city of Cusco."

"Thank you Jasper."

"My pleasure." The two men shook hands. "My highest regards to Elena, I wish you both luck." He stood up. "Now if you will excuse me I have a lecture to hold. Give me the name of your hotel and I will have the documentation you asked for sent there."

* * *

Nate spent the next night holed up in his hotel room studying the security detail for Yale's museum. This was going to be a two person heist no doubt about that. But who could he trust that would be willing to help him?

"I wonder…"

He almost felt guilty as he dialed the number on his cell.

"Hello?" A familiar Australian accent answered.

"Chloe? It's Nate Drake calling, I need a favour."


	5. An Old Flame

**AN**: Well I'm back, hopefully for good. I've been replaying both 1 and 2 in preperation for getting back on this fic and am up to going to find the Yeti with Tenzin so I'm chugging along nicely. Altho I did have a wee cry when it was announced Mark Wahlberg is going to be our beloved Nate in his movie, but hey Hollywood can't always get it right can they? Anyway enjoy and please R&R :D

* * *

**An Old Flame**

Nate decided that maybe ringing Chloe wasn't the best idea after he'd hung up his phone. He hadn't given her details but she had agreed to meet him and was flying out the next day. He sat and stewed on it for a while; thinking he should tell Elena what he was doing. But it wasn't as though he was doing anything wrong; he was only doing this to help her. He kept telling himself that and gave up on trying to decide what was right and what was wrong and went to bed; hoping his head would be clearer in the morning.

When he met Chloe at the airport the next morning he knew straight away that it was a bad idea.

"Nate, you're still alive, I'm surprised." Chloe joked extending her hand for him to shake it. Drake took Chloe's hand and after a second pulled her into a hug. They were old friends after all; the fact that they were ex-lovers didn't mean that hugging was off limits.

Chloe was a little taken aback but she went with it. After stepping apart she said "Well, it's nice to see you too."

"I've missed you Chloe, it's a shame we didn't keep in touch."

"I'm not certain your little ray of sunshine would have thought much of that. How is Elena by the way?"

"Actually that's why I called you; I'll fill you in on the drive back to the hotel."

"So you're being blackmailed to go treasure hunting by some nut job?" Chloe asked as they got into Nate's hotel room.

"That's the gist of it yeah. Sully of course thinks that we can get rich out of it while we're at it but I say one step at a time."

"So this nutcase you said his name was Freddy?"

"Yeah, Frederick, I don't know his last name but he's a yank, he's got this really thick, annoying accent too."

Chloe sat down on the sofa, thinking for a moment, "Hang on a minute, let me get on your laptop." Chloe brought up an internet page for an antiquities museum. "Is this him?" She had clicked on the picture for the Museum director.

"Yea that's him."

"His name is Frederick Lawson he's a private collector. Flynn and I used to do a lot of work together before our business with Lazarevic, Lawson approached us about a job but he was never open to giving us all of the facts. We said we'd look into it. We quickly realized that this guy isn't your average buyer, and that people had died looking for the things he was looking for. We did manage to successfully get our hands on something but we chose to leave it right where it was it was way too freaky. When Lawson found out he was furious. Offered us more money, which was obviously no issue the guy has bucket loads. We still said no and then he got violent. Put my arm in a plaster cast for six weeks. He has this front he puts up, very well mannered until things don't go his way."

Nate let out a sigh. "This is a small world."

"Too small, and if he's got Elena, you should be very worried." Chloe told him.

* * *

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Chloe asked as her and Nate entered the Museum galleries the next day. There was no point breaking in if they didn't know what they were trying to steal in the first place.

"I have no idea in the slightest. This is the worst part Chloe I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm in this completely blind."

"Well that's never stopped you before." She tried to lighten the mood.

"We need to take a look at the artifacts Bingham brought back from Peru. There has got to be something there that might help us."

As they walked through the galleries Nate and Chloe discovered there wasn't a lot to see. The artifacts were made up of clay pottery, some tapestries and some preserved bones.

"This is it?" Chloe asked. "Where are all the valuables?"

"Machu Picchu was raided by the Spaniards long before Bingham discovered it. I suppose there wouldn't have been much left for him to find."

"Nate what's this?" Chloe was looking at a large woven tapestry that hung on the wall. It had a large drawing of what looked like the sun and had writing in a foreign language underneath. "I thought you said the Incas had no written language?"

Nate walked over. "They didn't. This almost looks like Koihoma." A grin formed on Nate's face, finally they were getting somewhere. "Of course. Just because the Incas didn't record their history it doesn't mean their descendents didn't. Look, the sun, see that word there, Inti. Inti was their God. They were sun worshippers."

"Koihoma, I've never even heard of it, what does it say?"

"I wouldn't have a clue. Koihoma's a dead language, hasn't been heard out loud in over three thousand years. It's Latin-American, origins date back to Peru. I'd need to walk it through Mayan to even try to read it. We have to get this back to my hotel room."

"Wait a minute Nate, how do you know this is even what you're looking for?"

"Look at the drawing of the sun. Two eyes. This dates back to the 1800's. When Sully and I were trawling through books in the library," Nate pulled out his journal. "We read almost every book on Incan history and there were a few different interpretations of Inti. But look," he started flipping through the pages to where he'd sketched down anything important. "All of the modernized publishing's of Inti, one eye." He flipped through to the next drawing. "One eye. Inti's got only half of his vision."

"But Inti's not real. He's a god, a figment of the imagination so that these people could have someone to worship." Chloe argued.

"Oh no, I think Inti is real. That's why I need this tapestry. Just trust me on this." Nate grinned from ear to ear.

"Well I've heard that before." Chloe was not amused.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon was spent hatching a plan to remove the tapestry from the wall of the museum. Getting in was going to be the easy part. There would only be a handful of guards patrolling the corridors. It would be getting out with the tapestry that was going to be tricky. Once it had been removed from the wall there was no way to stop the alarms from sounding. They had decided to come in from the roof, using the building's air conditioning vents. They would enter the university building that housed the museum just like any other students before everything was shut up for the night. From there they could get up into the roofing and wait until lockdown. Once the guards began their patrol they would make their way into the museum. Nate would quietly take down the guards and once they had the tapestry their exit plan would be to get back into the roof and make a run for the exterior of the building and descend down the side.

The first part of the plan went off as desired, having the museum housed in a University made things that much easier. Nate and Chloe entered the university building and made good use of the elevator shafts to get up into the air vents. That was the easy part. They moved themselves through to the shaft that ran right through the museum. Now they just had to wait. Nate had failed to mention that Elena was pregnant when he had filled Chloe in earlier, and the look on her face was priceless. She was trying so hard not to laugh.

"It's really not funny Chloe. I mean especially since this Lawson guy isn't letting her go until I have something concrete."

"Oh Nate, one big happy family huh?"

"We weren't planning this, it just sort of happened. "

"I can't imagine you being a father."

"I can't imagine it either. It's scaring the shit out of me. I'm best on my own, you know? No one else to worry about."

"Well Nate maybe it is time for you to settle down? Quit getting yourself into trouble?"

"You sound just like Sully."

"Well Casanova, you can't be a lady killer forever can you?"

Nate put a hand over Chloe's mouth to silence her. "Chloe shhh; I think it's time look." They peered through the grating and sure enough the security guards had begun their patrol.

"So we wait for this guy to move onto the next corridor?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, and then we move, I'll stalk him down from behind and take him out."

Nate threw a cable down to the floor. "Ladies first." After Chloe slid down Nate followed and yanked the cable down to the ground. He let Chloe roll it up as he went after the guard. He stealthily sneaked up behind him and cracked him in the head, knocking him out. He then pulled the body out of sight and round a corner. Chloe caught up to him and they proceeded through the corridors, continuing like this until they reached the Machu Picchu artifacts. They were going well; Nate had only had to take out three guards. The tapestry was a good size. It was quite long lengthways but not very wide. They would be able to roll it up easily to fit into a small canister they had brought with them.

"Ok ready?" Nate whispered to Chloe. She nodded, pulling out the canister.

Nate lifted the tapestry off the wall very carefully and sure enough as soon as it pulled away from the wall the museum alarms began to sound. Nate hoped he had taken out enough guards to give them adequate time. Chloe took one end and Nate the other and they both carefully rolled the tapestry up and slotted it into the canister. He let Chloe hold onto it as they bolted back down the corridors looking for where they came in. They ran down one, two, three corridors but skidded to a halt as they turned the corner. Large iron security gates had begun dropping down from the ceiling and it had blocked their path to their exit strategy. "Son-of-a-bitch," Nate swore. "here's something that was left out of the security detail."

Chloe pulled on his arm. "Come on, I'm sure there was a back door, we have to keep moving or we'll just get shut in."

He nodded and they turned and ran back down a corridor they hadn't previously been through. They ran right into two armed guards. After dodging a few bullets, Chloe took down one and Nate took the other. Chloe bent to pick up the discarded gun but Nate stopped her. "Leave it we don't need them." More and more guards were entering the museum. They were running out of time. Through a stroke of luck they found the back entrance to the building. It had one door that stood between the museum and another corridor, and at the end of the corridor was the door that lead outside. Chloe turned the knob. "Locked, damn it." She would just need to unlock this door; the second door would be locked from the outside of the building. She grabbed out her lock pick.

"Chloe, you get yourself out. Go run to the other side of the campus and hide, I'll meet you round by the theatre building. It'll be easier if they think there's only one of us."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to try and lead them round in circles for a bit, buy you some time."

"Be careful Nate." Chloe looked worried.

"It's a museum, plenty of places to hide." He smirked. He turned and ran off up some stairs.

Chloe shook her head as she started work on the door. She swore as she struggled with the lock. It even felt a little bit rusted, great. After the longest minute of Chloe's life the lock finally clicked and she pushed through the door. Shutting it behind her she ran down the corridor and out the back door with no problems. The night air was cool, and she could spot men with flashlights roaming around the outside of the building. She did not want to run into them as she was drastically outnumbered. When they started moving in her direction Chloe turned the other way and started sprinting. She made it across campus and stopped to catch her breath over by the theatre as Nate had instructed. She crouched down against the wall of the building and waited. Ten minutes passed and she began to worry. Chloe screamed as she felt someone grab her from behind. Nate threw his hand over her mouth and when she realized it was him she felt like slapping him.

"Where were you?"

"I gave the guards the run around and hid in the Egyptian exhibit, no-one ever thinks to check inside the Sarcophaguses."

Chloe laughed, until she heard a voice in the distance and saw a flashlight searching in their direction. "Are you sure you weren't followed?"

"Um pretty sure…."

"How sure is pretty sure?"

"Sixty percent?"

"Nate what do we do?" The security guard was headed straight for them and the last thing they needed was to draw more attention to themselves.

"Chloe unbutton your top."

"Come again?"

Not having time to think Nate let his body take over. He braced the two of them against the wall and crushed his lips to hers. They began to kiss each other desperately. Nate put his hand inside Chloe's top while one of her legs wound around Nate's hip. It certainly looked believable. As they were making out Nate's hand moved around inside her top grazing one of her breasts. He took the cylinder from her hand and slipped it into her bra. Chloe let out a stifled moan as Nate's mouth claimed her voice. Chloe's second leg found its way round Nate's hip and he lifted her up against the wall. The boundaries between posing as students and kissing because they wanted to were blurred beyond recognition. Nate tried to hold himself back, and not get into this so much but damn it, it was hard.

"Hey what are you two doing?" The flashlight shone straight onto them and they broke apart, Nate lowering Chloe back onto the ground.

"Oops." Chloe said.

"You're not supposed to be on campus this late."

Nate thought fast. He remembered seeing flyers for a play when he was on campus the day before. "Sorry officer, we stayed late for rehearsals, and um got a bit distracted on the walk home."

The guard eyed them up suspiciously, but hey, he had no reason to doubt their story. "Alright then run along, and make it quick or else I'll have to report you."

Nate and Chloe breathed a sigh of relief as they took each other's hand and made their way back to the main street off the campus.


	6. Brotherhood Of The Seven Rays

**AN: **Ok I'm declaring my hiatus over. I've been working like mad for 2 days, researching, outlining the rest of my plot, trying to find a balance between dialogue and action. But I got so excited when I saw the newly released material for Drake's Deception it reignited my inspiration. Please enjoy.

* * *

**Brotherhood Of The Seven Rays**

"This is Inti." Nate thumped a large book down onto the table. Chloe peered down into the pages from over the top of her coffee mug.

"The Incan God is a large golden Frisbee?" Chloe sounded very sceptical.

The picture in the book depicted a large gold disc in the likeness of the sun, with figures worshipping it. There were large structures depicted that resembled the structures at Machu Picchu.

"I should have seen this earlier. It's all beginning to make sense."

"Nate, catch me up."

"There was supposed to be a disc that belonged to the Inca's but when the Spaniards invaded in the fifteen-hundreds, they took the disc and shipped it off to Rome to be a gift for the Pope. But it never made it, never seen again. Can you imagine how valuable this is? But what's more interesting is the missing eye."

Nate pulled out Lawson's stone from his pocket. "Lawson and I thought this was made of stone. But we were wrong, this is quartz."

"That would explain the glinting."

"Yes. And look, there's a line that's cut across the top here. At first it doesn't look like anything. But you lay this flat, what does it look like?"

"An eye?"

"An eye. This is the missing eye from the disc. It proves not only the disc is real but how far back this dates. If all the depictions of the disc have been drawn with only one eye, this has been lost for hundreds of years."

Nate's phone started ringing. He looked at the caller ID. "It's Lawson, perfect timing as usual."

"What do you want asswipe?"

"Nate, it's me." Elena's voice travelled down the phone.

"Elena?"

"I can't talk long, look, I've been doing some digging. Freddie's name is Frederick Lawson and he's a museum director over in Britain.

"Elena, I know."

"Well you're not the only one he's got running around for him. One of the guys here, Jacob, Freddie's had him researching Machu Picchu for weeks before he got in touch with us. And get this, Lawson's been blackmailing Jacob the same way he has with you, he's got Jacob's family being watched. He's got pages and pages of information here. Freddie knows exactly what he's looking for. That stone is a missing piece of a long lost artifact, a large gold disc that the Incans used to worship."

"Elena, I've just broken into a Museum to work most of this out, why would Lawson keep me in the dark?"

"Maybe he's trying to see if you can find something that he hasn't. To get a new perspective on something you need a fresh set of eyes."

"Well is there anything unusual in his notes?"

"Unusual? Nate's he's going to be back any minute…"

"Anything at all, come on Elena, this is important. I need to stay one step ahead of this guy."

"There's just a lot of hokum about sun worshipping and…wait…hang on…"

"Elena!" Nate was getting impatient.

"…sacrificial rituals."

Now she had his attention. "Human sacrifice?"

"Nate, I've gotta go." Elena had hung up the phone before Nate could get another word in.

"Lawson knows about the disc." He told Chloe when he put the phone down. "I bet it's what he's been after all along.

"Just our luck."

"Apparently this sun worshipping business has something to do with human sacrifice. That can't be good."

"Worship and sacrifice normally go hand in hand don't they? Look at the Egyptians."

"And the Incans too I'll bet." Nate ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I need to get a move on and start translating this Koihoma script. Hopefully it will tell us something useful."

"Have you seen the time?" Chloe asked him. It was getting into the early hours of the morning.

"Yeah, I know, but if I don't get started now I'm just going to fall farther and farther behind. I'll call Sully in the morning and fill him in. You can take the bed if you like; I'll stay on the couch." He wanted to make it clear that whatever sparks there were earlier that night between them had gone.

"Nate…about before." Trust Chloe to bring up their brief romantic interlude.

"It was stupid, I know. It was all I could think of." Nate tried to sound as convincing as possible.

"Kinda nice though, wasn't it, old times and all that?" She was trying to play coy.

Nate smiled. "Memories are nice Chloe, but that's all they are. Memories."

"Goodnight Nate." Chloe admitted defeat and went into the bedroom. He sure had changed.

* * *

Elena quickly slid the cell phone back to where it was sitting on the desk as Frederick entered his office. She turned to face him quickly and put on her most innocent face.

"What are you doing in here?" His voice was cold and menacing.

"I was looking for you. I think we should discuss my hostage situation."

"There's nothing to discuss my dear. As soon as Mister Drake delivers what I am looking for then you are free to go."

"So you are looking for something. How is Nate meant to bring you anything when he doesn't know what he's looking for!" Elena's voiced was raised as she shouted at him.

"Believe me Ms. Fisher, if I told him everything I knew he wouldn't believe me. There are things in this world that must be discovered on their own." Lawson began shuffling through the papers on his desk. "I see you've taken the liberty to read through my notes."

"You weren't exactly hiding them." Elena defended.

"I heard you speaking to someone before I came in, who was it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. There's no-one else in here." She knew her lie was pathetic, but what else could she say?

Lawson picked up his mobile and scrolled through to outgoing calls. Nate's number and the time of the call popped up. "Very clever." He stood up from his desk and walked over to Elena. "You're either very brave, or very stupid." Out of nowhere Frederick backhanded her across the face, sending her sprawling backward.

"Nate won't give you anything when he sees me all bruised up like this."

"He won't be seeing you at all. Despite what Mr Drake brings me, given recent events I have decided you will be spending a bit more time with us." He pressed a button on his desk; it was some kind of pager. "Rico, would you kindly come escort our guest back to her room, and this time, make sure she stays there."

* * *

The next morning Chloe got up to find Nate asleep on the couch. She woke him up by waving a coffee mug under his nose.

"Rise and shine. Coffee?" She handed him the mug.

"Thanks. Chloe I did it, listen to this." He picked up his notes as Chloe sat next to him. "_The Brotherhood of the Seven Rays continue to worship the giver of light in their temple under the waves._ This is loosely translated of course. It talks about the _golden deity_ and from what I can make out there's more than one temple."

"Alright, so the _golden deity_ would be the disc, and the _Brotherhood of the Seven Rays_ is the name given to the cult of sun worshippers."

"Yes. They worshipped the sun, _the giver of light_. But the sun will always be there, they couldn't have been asking for light and warmth."

"So what were they asking for?"

"Ok game plan. We're going after the disc. But I'm getting Elena back first."

"And how do you propose to do that?"

Nate picked up his 9mm, loaded it and cocked it. "The best way I know how."


	7. Blood And Survival

**AN:** First and foremost I can't thank my dedicated readers enough for sticking by me, and reviewing this story even when it's been stuck on the shelf for a while. You'll have to forgive me, since my last update my life has been through a big upheaval, my estranged husband and I have not only re-united after eighteen months separation but we've moved country. It's taken a while to get settled, but I've never stopped thinking about this story. And with all the upcoming hype of Drake's Deception, and all the trailers and comic-con footage out my inspiration is flowing as it should be. I hope you enjoy and please review :-D

* * *

**Blood And Survival**

A noise in the back of Nate's head was blaring right to the back of his skull. He could feel pain everywhere but there was no way he could pinpoint its source. Something told him not to open his eyes; but he did anyway. When it all came into focus he realised the noise was a car horn caused by his head on the wheel. He could taste blood.

_What the...Elena? Where was Elena?_

His head was facing the outside of the car, away from the passengers seat. Everything felt hazy again very quickly. Nate turned his head back into the middle of the car. He could see Elena unconscious and bleeding from the top of her head. Her arms were wrapped around her middle, trying to shield their unborn baby.

"Elena?" He managed to call out grogilly. "Elena!" He tried again. She didn't stir. He wanted to reach for her, but he couldn't make his arms move. The haziness overtook him and it wasn't long before he blacked out.

* * *

**Two Hours Earlier**

Elena paced the length of her room over and over. Flights were booked. Freddie was moving everyone to Britain. There was no way she was getting on a plane. Nate knew nothing about this and if she didn't do something to stop it he would be too far away to help her. Her door made the sound of the lock turning. It opened and Jacob came in.

"Alright what is going on?" Elena demanded. "Why is he moving us, and don't lie to me, I know you know the endgame here, I need answers."

"I'm afraid all of that will have to wait, your boyfriend is on his way in here."

"Nate's here?" Elena had been waiting a long time to hear those words.

"Yes, there is an outer armed perimeter of this compund and he is shooting his way through."

"Then why are there no alarms sounding?"

"Because Frederick doesn't want to invoke panic before it is due, the alarms won't sound until Drake reaches our building." Jacob replied.

"If Freddy is underestimating Nate it's the last mistake he'll ever make, Nate will reach this building. Look, Jacob, I understand that you're trapped here just like me, you're not one of the bad guys. But Nate will stop at nothing and if he comes in here to get me the first thing he's going to do is shoot you in the face, I might not be able to stop him in time. So here's the deal. Help me, help you."

"I don't follow."

"I'm breaking out of here. I'll put enough distance between you and me, once Nate reaches me he'll stop firing and we'll be getting as far away from here as we can. You shouldn't get caught in the crossfire. But in return you give me the rundown of why Freddie is keeping me here, I know its for more than just Nate's co-operation."

"I can't Elena, you don't understand..."

"You're running out of time Jacob, start talking." Elena was out of patience.

Jacob took a deep breath. "It's about the baby."

* * *

Nate had come prepared; this was a standard shoot, kill, move, scenario. Lawson didn't have that many guys. Or at least it didn't seem that way. The truth of the matter was that Nate didn't really care anymore. Nothing was stopping him until he had gotten Elena away from here. He would deal with Frederick later.

* * *

Elena grasped the gun carefully. Jacob had risked a lot by smuggling it in to her. She had sent him back to Frederick where he would be somewhat safer. Rico was standing guard at her door and it was him that she had to deal with before anything else. Being pregnant had to have its advantages.

"Rico..." Elena's voice was strained. "Rico you've got to help me."

"If you think I'm falling for that, you've got another thing coming girlie."

"Please...something's wrong, I'm bleeding, I need a doctor."

Rico grumbled to himself as he started to unbolt the numerous locks on the door. "This had better be good..." he called to her through the door.

When he pushed the heavy door open he saw Elena standing upright with a gun pointed straight out in front.

"Oh it's good." Elena fired and her aim was perfect. Blood spattered across the walls as the bullet passed through Rico's skull. As she stepped over his body and out into the curiously empty hallway a loud alarm began sounding. Nathan Drake had reached the building. She started running down the halls trying to get to him. Elena had a faint idea of how the building that had been her prison for the last few weeks was laid out but it was easier to follow the sounds of the bullets firing. It wasn't long until she ran straight into an armed guard. She couldn't even think anymore all she could do was fire. She kept running. Another guard. Bang. And another. She got closer and closer and when she could hear the sounds of men yelling out in pain as they were pumped with bullets she decided to call out.

"Nate?" She yelled loudly.

"Elena, is that you?" He wasn't far away from her at all. One or two corridors maybe.

"Nate where are you?

"I'm coming hold on."

Elena rounded another corridor, and another, and then she found him. Bodies were strewn all over the floor. He ran to her. Survival mode stopped for Elena and all she wanted to do was slump to the floor. They hugged for a brief moment but there was no time. More men would be coming for them.

"You got out?"

"You sound surprised."

"But in your condition..."

"Nate, I'm pregnant not useless." Elena was more than sick of being brushed aside just because she was carrying a baby.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just... you shouldn't have had to go through this."

"We're not talking about this now; just get me out of here please."

"You're right come on." They began running back towards the doors, climbing over fallen bodies as they went.

Elena wanted to get as far away from her captors as possible. In light of her new information about Lawson's plans she felt sick to her very core.

They burst out of the building and into the streaming sunlight. Elena had been held in captivity for so long she hardly recognised it. Except the scenery didn't look like at all like Florida.

"Where are we?"

"Mexico. You didn't know where they'd taken you?"

"No, whenever we were in the car I was always blindfolded. We'd done a lot of driving but I didn't think we'd driven as far as Mexico."

"Maybe Lawson wanted to get closer towards Peru, I'm not sure. I've got a truck waiting just outside the perimeter."

"Is Sully with you?"

"No, we'll regroup when we're back across the border."

Nate helped her up into the truck before running around to the driver's door. Once he was in he put his foot down and they sped out onto the long road that headed back to the state border.

Elena took a deep breath before opening her mouth again, and even then she had to wait a few minutes. "Nate I need to tell you something."

Nate wasn't listening. He was focussed on the road. He just wanted to get her away from here, make everything right again. In the distance he could make out what looked like a black jeep coming towards them.

"Nate!" Elena raised her voice. "I need you to listen it's about the baby."

"We need to talk Elena, I can't even think straight about it, I mean how did we get pregnant, I can't...we've never talked about it and I can't..." Nate wasn't even sure what he was trying to say. The black jeep was closer to them now.

Elena cut him off. "Lawson wants to kill our baby!"

Before he could respond the black jeep veered straight across the road deliberately smashing into them. It smashed into the driver's side door sending Nate and Elena's vehicle rolling over once and then around three hundred and sixty degrees, coming to a stop when the wheels hit a ditch. Nate's head smacked straight into the steering wheel and everything turned dark.

* * *

**Six Months Earlier**

After Tibet, Nate insisted Elena stay with him while she was still recovering. She never left, so it made sense to move the rest of her things into the apartment. Elena dropped the last of the boxes onto the floor of Nate's apartment in Florida. She giggled as he came up behind her and grabbed her around the middle.

"That's the last box?" He kissed her cheek playfully.

"That's the last one." She replied with a smile.

"Unpacking can wait." He pulled her towards the bedroom leaving the boxes forgotten on the floor.

Elena sat at her laptop working on the scoop of the month. She had just finished filming a really great story and was editing the final cut. She had been working for almost twelve hours straight. Nate had been at the library and she had given him a grocery list so that he could stop in on the way home. But when Nate walked in almost an hour late and without any groceries, Elena couldn't help feeling a little frustrated.

"I'm sorry, time got away from me at the library, and I didn't even think about going to the store."

"You know what Nate, it's absolutely fine. Next time I'll just do it myself." She packed her laptop up and as she took it into the bedroom with it she called out; "I should have known better than to ask you to do something for me while you're working."

Nate followed her in. "Hey that's not fair. You know how important the work I'm doing is."

Elena threw her arms up in exasperation. "I never said it wasn't. I'm just getting tired of this. I'm already feeling like part of the furniture."

"Are we really going to do this again?" He asked her in return.

"Again?" Elena repeated.

"Yeah. I'm going to come home one day and you're not going to be here." Nate couldn't help but have a hint of childishness in his voice. Not only was he trying to change the subject, he was trying to pass the blame.

"Ok I left because you didn't seem to care if I was here or not. Do you want me here Nate?"

They were talking about their first attempt at a relationship; after El Dorado. It wasn't that Nate didn't want a relationship, because he did. He just wasn't very good at it. He was unreliable at best. Their dates were almost always cancelled between their two different jobs, and when Elena was offered a job overseas she made the hard decision that there was nothing keeping her here. Nate got back to his apartment that night and found a note. It wasn't until she was gone that he realised how much he wished he'd tried harder. With that thought Nate decided that he wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

"Elena, listen to me." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. "I know that I've been working a lot lately. But I'm going to make this up to you. How about I cook us a nice dinner tomorrow night?"

Elena relented, her face breaking into a smile.

"See...you forgive me right?"

"I'm thinking about it." She teased.

He kissed her, long and hard on the mouth.

"You're getting warmer."

Nate tackled her down onto the bed and all was forgiven.


	8. Sic Parvis Magna

**AN:** Well here we are. Drake's Deception was_ amazing_ if I do say so myself. I won't be spoilerific for those who may not have finished but I have to input my favourite part was the "I'm sorry". (If you're done, you'll know what I'm talking about ;-D )To be honest I was expecting more fics like there was in the aftermath of Among Thieves. Anyway, this chapter has been in the making for quite some time now and I hope it lives up to expectations. Please review as I worked my butt off for it. I had to research heaps as I've never been to Mexico, or South America so I had to do a lot of reading, but I think once I'm done with this story I'll pass the google test as Amy Hennig would put it with flying colours. Most of all, please enjoy :-D

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Uncharted, but I wish I did :-D

* * *

**Sic Parvis Magna**

When Nate opened his eyes he was blinded by the bright white of his hospital room. He blinked a few times, then sat up slowly. He could hear people speaking Spanish outside of his room. Was he still in Mexico? He reached for the panic button next to his bed and pressed it a few times. A pretty dark-haired nurse entered the room.

"You're awake. Welcome back to the land of the living Mr Drake."

"Where am I? What's going on, how do you know my name?"

"You've been in an accident. You rolled your jeep. This is the Angeles Pedregal. You're in Hospital. You had no formal identification on your person, but we did find your journal. We used it to contact a Mr Sullivan and he comes to visit you everyday. He's the one who identified you."

"Everyday? How long have I been here?"

The nurse tried to soften the shock. "You're injuries were life threatening. There was a lot of internal bleeding. You also had a nasty concussion which resulted in you falling into a coma."

"How long?" Nate repeated.

"Almost three months."

"Three months?" Nate was shocked. "Is my girlfriend ok? She was in the jeep with me, her name's Elena Fisher, and god she's pregnant." Nate was suddenly very scared.

A confused look crossed the nurse's face which didn't go un-noticed by Nate.

"I'll have to go make some enquires, but I will call Mr Sullivan and let him know you're awake."

"Kid, Jesus. You gave us a helluva scare." Sully said as he walked in about an hour later. He hugged his protégé tightly.

Nate smiled for a moment but then turned serious. "Sully what the hell's going on, where's Elena?"

"Elena? What are you talking about?" Sully sounded genuinely confused.

"She was in the jeep with me."

"You got her away from Lawson?"

"Yes! We were driving back to the state border when a black four weel drive crashed straight into us. It was clearly a set up, there was no way this was an accident."

"I think you hit your head a bit hard Nate, there was no sign of a black jeep anywhere."

"You think I rolled it all by myself?"

"You hit a ditch at high speed, it could have happened to anyone."

"Sully, I'm not lying!"

"Goddamn it kid, normally I wouldn't doubt you but this just doesn't add up."

"Well where's Chloe?"

"Chloe went to Rome to track down the disc, like you asked."

"Ok." Nate did not like the sound of where this was going at all.

"Lawson's men were waiting for her."

"What? Is she ok?"

"She got away from them, but only just. She's gone into hiding so they can't follow her. I'll tell her you're awake though."

"What about you Sully, do they have a tail on you?"

"I did have, but they dropped it soon after the crash. Maybe they think I'm no longer a threat with you out of the picture."

"We'll that's their first mistake. Alright, get Chloe on the phone, I've got an idea."

Sullivan dialled the number and let Nate talk to her. He asked her to go back to the warehouse where they had been holding Elena before coming to the hospital. It took a couple of hours and then Chloe arrived in his room.

"We really thought we'd lost you this time. You were such a mess when they cut you out of that jeep. But I'm glad you're ok." Chloe took Nate's hand and squeezed it.

"Thanks Chloe. So the place was abandoned?"

"Burnt to the ground. If you cut down as many men as you said you did it would have been the easiest way to get rid of the bodies."

"So what now? They've vanished without a trace." Sully said.

"My guess is that if Lawson sent men to Rome, they've got the disc." Nate replied.

"How can you be so sure they found it?" Chloe asked.

"Because they tried to kill you which means they've got it. If I know men like Lawson they're dirty players. If he still needed to find it they would have let you do the hard work for them and then take it from you."

"Well if they've got it, what happens now?" Sully interjected. "The bastards have won?"

"Sully, Sully, Sully. Not by a long shot. As soon as they discharge me we're going to Peru." Nate said with a confident grin.

"Let's just think about this for a minute shall we?" Chloe put the brakes on. "They've got a twelve week head start on us."

"That doesn't matter I'm already onto it." Both Chloe and Sully raised their eyebrow. Drake elaborated. "Elena's what, six, seven months pregnant now? It's not viable to have a heavily pregnant woman hostage on a plane. They would have had to drive to Peru all the way through Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia just to name a few. That trip would take a lot of planning and a lot of money, not to mention the time and distance, its thousands of kilometres. That will buy us some time. Sully I want you to go to the airport and get us some plane tickets down there. We'll land in Lima then try and cut them off before they get to Cuzco. We do not want them getting to Machu Picchu before us."

Sullivan and Chloe just exchanged glances and hoped that Nate knew what he was doing.

* * *

Things had changed for Elena since the crash. She was twenty-eight weeks pregnant; the start of her third trimester and at the start of her seventh month. Proving she was no damsel in distress after putting a bullet through Rico's head; Lawson began treating her like an equal. By taking Drake out of the equation she was also much less of a threat. Elena was allowed to walk around freely, so long as Jacob was there to chaperone. She didn't remember anything from the crash itself, and only bits and pieces about being pulled from the jeep. They had told her Nate was dead, and when she had called them liars; Lawson produced the ring of Sir Francis that always hung around his neck. Now Elena had nothing to hold onto; except the baby and the hope that Sully would still come for her. She fingered Nate's ring around her neck that she now wore all the time; having no idea who or what to trust anymore. They had been in Lima; Peru's capital city for many days now. She was emotional and exhausted; the only thing keeping her together was Jacob; or Jake as she now called him. Lawson's plan was sick. He believed the ancient Incan civilization held the key to immortality and that the gold disc of the sun has something to do with it, like a bizarre Holy Grail. The only catch is that the ritual requires a very special human sacrifice which is where her baby comes in. Jake promised Elena that no matter what he wouldn't let anything happen to either of them. She couldn't run, the two of them were ridiculously outnumbered, and even if she could run she couldn't get very far by herself. Frederick had planned to keep Elena in Britain until she was further along in the pregnancy but he scrapped the idea after Nate almost got her away from them. Speaking of Nate, the trio landed in Lima just as Lawson's crew were loading up the vehicles to drive to Cusco which is the last city before the trek up the mountain. Chloe was ready to run right in guns blazing but Nate pulled her back, deciding the element of surprise was better. They followed them silently all the way to Cusco; having to hang back just a little so as not to be discovered. By the time they arrived there was no sign of Elena. In order to get to Machu Picchu you had to take a train up to the village of Aguas Calientes. After a one and half hour trek from there you would reach the sacred site. Nate sent Sully and Chloe to find out about the train while he went off on his own to find Elena. He came across his chance when he caught a glimpse of Jacob walking around the city by himself. He trailed him for a while, long enough to gauge if there was any backup keeping an eye on the man. When Nate decided the coast was clear he snuck up behind Jacob and stuck his 9mm into the man's back.

"Where is she, you little punk?" Nate whispered into his ear, quiet enough to not draw attention to them.

Jacob didn't even need to turn around to see his attacker. "Drake? You're alive?"

"Surprised to see me huh? Where's Lawson?" Nate kept them walking to continue to avert suspicion.

"He's doing excavations up the mountain."

"Good, he won't get in my way then. Now take me to Elena before I put a bullet in your back."

"You don't understand. Elena's already up in the village we have to wait for the afternoon train to get up to her."

"Well then you and me are going to have a very intimate train ride." He replied, sticking the gun harder into Jacob's back, demonstrating exactly what he meant by the word intimate. "I always did enjoy the train." Nate mused, remembering his last train ride very clearly.

"Have you ever stopped to consider that this is a second chance for her?" Jacob changed the subject.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"She thinks you're dead. She's finally accepting it. If you just walk away from this she'll spend the rest of her life not knowing any differently. She could be happy. Look at the danger you put her in."

"And what about my kid? I'm supposed to walk away from that aswell?" Nate's anger was rising fairly quickly.

"You don't even want this baby. Elena told me the way you felt about her pregnancy. Don't get all noble now."

"You're so full of shit. Don't you dare tell me how I'm feeling!" Nate didn't know if he was angrier at the remark itself or the fact that Jacob had a valid point.

"Someone has to." Jacob wasn't at all worried about drawing attention to them and Nate struggled to keep his temper in check.

"Look you don't know the first thing about me." Nate took the volume of his words down a level with gritted teeth.

"You're nothing but a cold blooded killer. She deserves better than you. She needs someone who can look after her when this is all done."

"What; like you? No. You think I'm no different than Lawson and you still work under him, helping to keep my girlfriend at ransom." Nate dug the gun harder into Jacob's back. "And I want to see her."

"Then we'd better go and see what time the train leaves."

* * *

Elena was resting in her room when Jacob came in. She didn't miss the look on his face. He was worried "Jake, What is it?" He stepped aside revealing the gun being held to his back. Elena couldn't believe what she was seeing when Nate stepped through the door.

"Nate?" She started crying. Elena broke down, she couldn't even move off the bed to go to him. All she wanted now was to get off the emotional rollercoaster. Nate moved straight to her and drew her into a hug. "I'm here. I promise I'm not going anywhere this time."

"They told me you were dead." She cried into his chest.

"I know. Shhh its ok." He soothed her, stroking her hair.

After a few minutes she looked over at Jacob. "You knew?" He didn't deny it. "This whole time?" She questioned. "How could you do that to me? I trusted you."

Nate answered. "He wanted me to walk away from this, from you. Told me you and the baby would be better off thinking I was dead."

"No! Why?"

"Because he wants you all to himself. He thinks he's got some sort of chance with you."

Jacob moved closer to them, pleading with her. "No...no it's not like that, Elena, I would never hurt you."

"Stay away from me." She spat. Elena was beyond hurt. "You said you had a family, that you were a prisoner too, that was all a lie? These last four months after the crash, you were just trying to get close to me? Telling me that the father of my baby is dead when you knew it wasn't true."

"Lawson has promised me that you will be safe when this is all over, that you can just walk away. I've been acting in your best interests."

"You made a deal with him that you get me when this is finished? I'm not a piece of property, you make me feel sick." She looked up at Nate with tears in her eyes still. "I want to go home. Please, just take me home."

Nate's heart pulled when he heard her crying into his shoulder. "Babe, I'm sorry. We can't go home just yet. I have to end this."

"Oh of course you do." She sighed sarcastically.

"I think I've proven my point; Drake." Jacob interjected.

"Get out of here before I throw you out myself." Nate spat back.

Jacob looked at Elena, pleading for another chance.

"Jake, just go. I can't even look at you right now." She told him and he hesitantly left the small house.

Nate turned back to Elena. "If there was any other way I'd have you home in an instant, but Lawson's put hits out on me and Sully. They almost killed Chloe too."

"Chloe's wrapped up in all of this?"

"She's been helping me, helping us." He tried to explain.

"Helping you do what exactly?"

"Oh, please don't start this. There's nothing for you to be worried about."

Just as soon as he said it Chloe popped her head in the door. Both her and Sully had accompanied Nate and Jacob on the train.

"I hate to break up this little reunion, but we should really get going. I'm taking fire out here."

"Give us a minute." Nate told her.

"Nate, it's an ambush. Freddy's found out that we're here." Chloe argued. "We don't have long; they're coming up the hillside fast!" Chloe unloaded another round of bullets from her gun before grudgingly ducking her head back out.

"What's she doing here?" The indignation in Elena's voice was crystal clear.

Nate ignored her as Sully came through the door. "Elena, Sully's going to take you back down the mountain there's a truck waiting, he's getting you out of here. I have a safe-house for you back in Lima, wait for me there."

"Wait, what about you?"

"Chloe and I are heading up to Machu Picchu. Lawson's got the disc, but we've got the eye. I'm stopping this. All we need to do is get up there before him and find out how."

"Nate; no! I'm coming with you."

"Oh no, Elena you're not listening to me. You and this baby are important I'm not risking either of you anymore." He ran his hands over her growing belly, "it's incredible I can't believe how far along we are now."

"You want this baby?" It was the first time Elena had actually heard him say it.

"I've been scared. I don't know how to be a good father."

"Nate…"

"I lost my mom when I was five, my dad couldn't cope so he gave me up. I promised myself that if I were ever in the position to bring a child into this world that I would stop this lifestyle. I wasn't going to give it the same opportunity to grow up an orphan. But look at me. What am I doing right now? I haven't stopped."

"You haven't had any choice. Look at the mess we're in. I have every faith in you that we are all going to get home safely."

"I can't promise that."

"No you can't. But I know you'll do whatever you can to make it happen."

Chloe poked her head back in after firing off another round. "We're running out of time here."

Sully walked over and took Elena's arm. "Come on, I'm taking you down the mountain. They have a long hike ahead of them and they need to get moving if they're going to stay ahead of Frederick Lawson."

Elena shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere unless it's with Nate and if that means following you up that damn mountain then so be it." She was determined; they had to give her that.

"Sunshine; look at you. You're hardly in any condition, you're almost waddling..." Chloe argued.

If looks could kill. "Yeah well I can still waddle better than your skinny ass so let's get moving."

Nate threw his arms in the air. "Why are you always so stubborn? Alright, Chloe and I will scout on ahead; Sully can follow behind with Elena." He looked at Chloe. "I'll be there in a minute." Chloe took her cue and left the house to give the couple some privacy. He glanced at her neck and saw his ring hanging from it. He took it in his fingers. "So this is where this got to?"

Elena reached to lift it off, "here…"

Nate put his hand over hers, halting her movement. "You keep it safe for me for a while." He cupped her face with one hand lightly for a moment. "Stay with Sully. I mean that." He handed her a pistol. "Here." It was a Desert-5. "It's got a bit more recoil than you're used to, so just keep it tight, in the shoulder."

"I know how to fire a gun Nate." She smiled at him. She had never seen him this worried before.

"I know you do." He kissed her on the forehead and tore himself away before he changed his mind about endangering all of their lives.

* * *

Elena's back and ankles were killing her. She had three months left of this?

"Do you need to stop?" Sullivan asked gently.

"Just for a minute." She looked up and ahead of her. They had lost sight of Nate and Chloe maybe twenty minutes earlier. "This was a bad idea." She panted. "I'm only slowing us down."  
"You have to admire your determination, but I don't blame you."

"You don't?"

"If we were sitting pretty in Lima right now we'd both be going out of our head with worry."

"It's not just that….." Elena started moving again. "I didn't want him up here alone."

"He's not alone, he's got….ahh." The lightbulb turned on. "Elena, Nate loves you. He does. Chloe's learnt to respect that."

"But she's gorgeous, and I'm…..I'm….." Elena struggled to hold back her emotions. "…..I'm a big bloated whale." She cracked and started crying. "These goddamned hormones."

Victor stopped and gave her a much needed hug. "Hey that's my line."

"None of this is fair, Sully. When you go through a pregnancy you're supposed to sit at home, have your man rub all the sore spots and reassure you that you're still the most gorgeous woman in the world. I've been kept in small confined spaces and carted all over the world like a piece of baggage."

She had to crack sometime; Elena had been far too brave for what she had gone through.

After an hour the sun started to set and there was no way they were hitting Machu Picchu in the dark. Nate and Chloe stopped to set up camp, giving a chance for Sully and Elena to catch up. Sullivan sat her down and walked over to talk to Nate.

"How's she doing?"

"She's doing fine kid." Sully was unable to mask the concern in his voice.

"But…." Nate prompted.

"This isn't really my place to say, but she's feeling a little insecure. "

"I don't follow."

Sullivan sighed. "She has this idea that she has to be here to compete with Chloe."

Nate raised an eyebrow.

"Is she wrong?" Sully asked.

"Yes! I asked Chloe to help me with the Museum heist and now she's caught up in this too. But it doesn't hurt to have an extra gun, someone to keep watch. Chloe is here to help Elena, not run off with her man."

"If you needed help with the heist you could have asked me. But you didn't. You asked Chloe. I don't blame the poor girl for being worried."

"She doesn't trust me?" Nate sounded offended, and a little unreasonable.

"You brought this on yourself kid. Look I don't know what's going to happen when we get to Machu Picchu; things could end badly, do you really want to get up there with all of this hanging over you?"

"Thanks Sully. I'll sort it out." Nate sighed. Sully put his hand on Nate's shoulder.

"Go get her kid."

Elena was lying down resting when Nate sat down beside her.

"Hey." He said quietly.

"Hey yourself."

"How are you feeling?"

"Very pregnant."

Nate took a deep breath. "I love you."

Elena smiled. She couldn't help it. "Nate, about the baby, I don't want you to give up what you love doing. You live for this. And how are we going to support ourselves? I can hardly see you in a nine till five day job."

"We'll work it out. There's something else." He reached for the base of her neck and took Drake's ring inbetween his fingers for the second time that day, Elena looked puzzled. "I don't have a ring yet, but I was hoping this would do in the meantime."

"What are you asking me Nate?" Elena couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Marry me. Please?" She could see the vulnerability in his eyes. He actually thought she might say no. Her journalistic instinct kicked in and she couldn't help herself.

"Nate, would you still be asking me if I wasn't pregnant?" His face told her everything she needed to know. She was immediately sorry she'd doubted him. "I'm sorry. But are you sure? A few months ago all we could do was fight. I'd been expecting you to dump me for a while, that they'd be some adventure calling your name that was too good to turn down. And now look at me; I'm a huge waddling marshmallow. Chloe was right; I am in no condition to be up here."

"Sweetheart, stop talking. You're beautiful. You're the most beautiful...marshmallow I've ever seen." This was the most serious conversation Nathan Drake had ever had and he still couldn't help but joke. "I'm going to try this again. "Elena Fisher, will you marry me?"

She started to cry. All Elena could do was nod her head. Nate laughed in pure relief. Their foreheads were leaning in to each other. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes." Elena wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you." She whispered.

Nate kissed her. They sat together for a while; her head resting in his lap. This was the only time they'd had to themselves in months.

"Nate." Elena said after a while.

"Yeah?"

"I'm putting clowns in the baby's room."

Nate looked down at her and she started laughing.

"That's not funny."

"Sure it is."

Once Elena was asleep he slid out from underneath her head, gently resting it on the make-shift pillow they had made out of a spare blanket. Nate walked over to Chloe to relieve her of her night watch.

"I admire what you're doing Nate." She told him as he sat down next to her.

"And what is it that I'm doing?"

"With Elena. You knocked her up the least you can do is marry the girl."

"It's not like that."

"It's not?"

"No."

"Really?" She pressed.

"No! Chloe, I love her. I should have asked her to marry me a long time ago."

Chloe smiled. "I was just checking."

"Checking?"

"That I made the right decision. Walking away."

"And did you?"

"Yeah I did. She's very lucky Nate. I'm happy for you."

"Really?" He smiled at his former flame. "That wouldn't be a hint of jealousy I hear in your tone Ms Frazer?"

"Pfft, please, don't flatter yourself."

"You should get some sleep." He told her gently.

"So should you."

"Sully will come get me in a few hours to take over. I'll sleep then."

"G'Night Nate."

"Night Chloe."

Nathan Drake spent the next few hours lost deep in thought. He tried to keep his head around everything they had learned so far, which in reality, wasn't much at all. His thought's kept drifting off to the woman sleeping over by the campfire; his fiancé, the mother of his unborn child. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to them; especially now they were so close to the end. He thought about the ring around Elena's neck, and everything it symbolised. "_Sic Parvis Magna_ – greatness from small beginnings." He certainly hoped he was worthy of the motto.


	9. Sharing A Moment

**AN:** After many months of writers block I came up with a great idea. I wrote the ending then began to work my way backwards. I have written the final chapters and I am so proud of them. I was just going to finish the entire story and post all at once, but I've still got about another thousand words to go to fill in another gap, but to tithe you over, here is the next part. I want to thank the readers who have stuck by me with this, I'm sure anyone who has tried knows the difficulties of writing a multi-chapter Uncharted fic. Please forgive any spelling or grammar errors, my lappy is being repaired and I'm currently without MS Word and its spellchecker.

Please R&R, and enjoy most of all.

* * *

**Sharing A Moment**

The next morning the group continued their trek up to Machu Picchu. Nate and Sully walked up in front and Chloe hung back to talk to Elena.

"Hey."

"Hi." Well this was awkward.

"Look, Elena, I just wanted to say that you've got nothing to worry about, with Nate and me. "

"There's a "Nate and you?"

"I just mean after what happened in Connecticut. He made it very clear that whatever we had was in the past."

"Chloe, what are you talking about?"

Chloe's face gave nothing away and Elena couldn't work out if Chloe had done this on purpose, whether she genuinely thought Nate had shared whatever information this was with her; or whether she was trying to drop Nate in it…

"He hasn't told you?" Her hand moved to her chest in an apologetic gesture. "I'm sorry, please forget I said anything. It's really not that big of a deal anyway."

"Right…well thanks for the chat, it's been fun, like always." Elena really didn't feel like talking to Chloe about her future husband.

"I'll just um…" Chloe pointed to the two men up ahead. "Yeah…" She walked faster to catch up to them, and asked if one of them would swap "babysitting" duties with her. Sully looked over his shoulder at Elena and sighed. Not because of the fact that someone had to help take care of her, but because Chloe had clearly put a foot out of line. He fell back to walk with Elena.

"What was all that about?"

"Has Nate ever mentioned Connecticut to you?"

"No, why?"

"I'm sure it's nothing, I'll ask him about it later." Elena fell back into a meditated silence, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. She absentmindedly fingered the ring that hung from her neck and reminded herself that she was the one wearing Nate's ring, even if it wasn't on her finger yet.

When the group reached Machu Picchu Nate called them together for a team talk.

"Ok, here's the plan, no guns from here on out. This is a tourist trap, there are people everywhere, and we don't want to cause a panic. Elena, you're staying here for the time being, one of you two…" he pointed to Sully and Chloe "…are going to stay here with her. Whoever comes with me, we're getting in and out of the ruins as fast as possible."

"So what are you looking for?" Chloe asked him.

"Kihoma script, on the walls, there has to be something here that tells me where the sacred ritual chamber is, where the Incan's worshipped the sun, thousands of years ago."

"And what about Lawson? There's only one direct path up here, if he had passed us we would have seen him." Sully questioned.

"Exactly, I hate to say it but I think he's following us. That's why I want to get in and out, as quickly as I can."

"Chloe, you go with Nate, I'll wait here." Sully offered.

Elena was about to protest but Nate caught the look on her face and cut her off. "Is there a problem, Elena?"

She tried to wipe the pout off of her face without much luck. "No; just be careful."

"I always am." He kissed her, almost a little bit longer than was necessary; receiving a raised eyebrow from Chloe.

"Shall we get moving Nate?" She attempted to remind him that they were still all here.

He brushed his thumb and forefinger along Elena's jawbone, before pulling away.

"Yeah, you're right." He turned to Elena. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I'll be here." She replied wistfully.

Nate and Chloe jogged off towards the first set of ruins. Not long after they were out of sight Elena and Sully were joined by Jacob, who casually sat down beside her.

"Hi."

"Jake, what are you doing here?" Elena asked him calmly. Sully aimed his revolver at him and cocked it for emphasis.

"Put the gun down old man, you don't need it."

"Old man?"

"There's men stationed all around the ruins, one signal from me and they shoot."

"What do you want?"

"Lawson sent me here to make sure that the two of you are staying put. It's strange, after all of the emphasis he put on keeping you alive he seems to be much more interested in your boyfriend of all people." Jacob scoffed.

"Fiancée actually." Elena corrected.

"Oh, he grew a pair did he?"

"Excuse me?"

"He's finally taking responsibility."

"We're not getting married because I'm pregnant, and it's not actually any of your business. I'd rather not speak to you at all. You betrayed me Jake. You have no idea what that feels like."

"He's a jerk Elena, you deserve better."

"Hey, why don't you shut your god-damned mouth? I'll shoot you in the head right now, I don't care who's watching, at least it will shut you up." Sully refused to listen to this. Nate was a good kid, and he loved the woman he asked to marry him. Sure he wasn't perfect, but he was good enough in Sully's eyes.

After spending an hour looking through countless ruined buildings, Nate found what he was after. The temple wasn't here. "Damn it!" He'd dragged them all up here for nothing.

"So if it's not up here…" Chloe prompted him after he pounded his fist against the wall in frustration.

"It's on an island, in the middle of the largest lake in South America. We'll have to head South to the town of Puno and catch a boat from there."

He threw his hands up in the air. "The Island of the Sun, I should have seen that…"

"Bravo, Mister Drake." Frederick Lawson clapped his hands, as he entered the ruined building. Chloe was quick to aim her gun at him.

"Oh put it away Miss Frazer, you don't need that."

"Frederick Lawson…" she mused. "Good to see you're still forcing people to work for you against their will."

"I see your arm has healed up nicely, don't make me put it back into a plaster cast will you my dear."

"What do you want?" Drake got straight to the point.

"Exactly what you've just given me; the Island of the Sun. Now I could just kill you both where you stand, but that wouldn't be very gracious of me now would it?"

"Kill me now and you're screwed." Nate replied. Chloe couldn't tell from his tone if he was bluffing or not.

"Please do tell me why Mr Drake."

"You want to complete the ritual of the sun that the Incas used thousands of years ago. You have the golden deity disc, and now the location of the temple. I have the missing piece of the eye. Sure you could just shoot me and take it, but there's still a missing puzzle piece."

"Go on."

"The incantation. Now out of all of us I'm still the only one who can read Kiohma script off of these walls."

"Well then I'm sure you won't mind accompanying me to the temple."

"That's all very well Freddy, but I don't know the incantation, it's not on any of these rubble walls."

Lawson sighed "Then where do you suppose it is?"

"There's only one place I haven't looked yet. Choquequirao is a similar site, the incantation could be there." Nate put a lot of emphasis on the word "could."

"Go on." Frederick prompted.

"I have a proposition for you. We have to get back down to Cusco and make our way from there. It's a two day trek, so four there and back. We head there one on one. Just you and me; no added guns, no muscle. No-one will slow us down it should make the trek nice and quick, easier for both of us. Whaddaya say?"

"Very well." Lawson said. "You have a deal Mr Drake."

Chloe cast Nate a meaningful glance trying to work out what he was playing at.

"We leave immediately." Frederick continued before pulling out a radio. "Jacob, please escort our guests back down to Cusco and we will re-join you shortly."

As the three of them left the ruins, Chloe walked over to Nate so she could whisper to him out of Frederick's earshot. "Tell me you know what you're doing."

"Not really. But if Freddy were to have an unfortunate slip down the mountainside during the next four days, it will be better for everyone."

"I'm sure he's probably thinking the same thing towards you."

"Oh I don't doubt it. As soon as he's got the incantation I'm worthless to him."

When they joined up with the others back in Cusco Nate went straight over to Elena who had a very worried look on her face.

"What's going on? She asked him.

"Just a minor setback. Freddy and I are taking a little trip together; just me and him."

"Oh Nate, I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

"It'll be fine." He reassured her.

"If you come back in a body bag I swear to God..."

He placed his hand on the side of her cheek gently, tilting her chin up making her look directly at him.

"It's going to be alright."

Elena blinked a few times, trying to hold herself together. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

"Elena. Listen to me. You have been to hell and back, but you're still here. You're fine, the baby's fine. That's all that matters. And when we all go home I swear I'm going to make this up to you." He kissed her quickly on the lips and was pulled away by Frederick's men before she could say anything else. All that Elena, Chloe and Sully could do now was wait.

"I would like to propose some ground rules Mr Drake." Lawson said as the two of them began their long trek.

"I'm listening."

"I believe it is in both of our best interests if we refrain from attempting to kill each other."

"How so?"

"Obviously I need to keep you alive until I get what I want, and even then I'm still prepared to let you and your friends leave once everything is complete. But if you kill me, Jacob will be notified immediately, and he will kill Miss Fisher, Miss Frazer and Mr Sullivan. Am I making myself clear?"

"How would he know? Just out of curiosity."

"Curiosity killed the cat Mr Drake; don't let it kill you as well."

The two-day journey went relatively smoothly. They got to Choquequirao without incident, and even managed to investigate all of the ruins there relatively quickly. Once Nate had found what he needed, he waited until Lawson was standing in front of a large, but deteriorating stone column. He then shot the weak spots out causing the column to fall on top of Lawson, trapping him. Nate ran for the exits without looking back ignoring Lawson's yells of anger behind him. He ran straight back for the trail knowing he had to get back to the others as quickly as possible. When he did, he spotted Elena, Chloe and Sully sitting together. He snuck up behind Elena putting his arm around her.

"Time to go." He helped her up.

"Nate, what hap...where's Freddy?"

"He's ah, indisposed."

"I don't think so Drake." Jacob stormed over brandishing his gun. "Where's Mr Lawson?"

"Indisposed; but he's not dead, just stuck; under a pile of rubble, in one of the ruins."

Jacob stared at him angrily as Nate continued. "He might need a hand to get out though, it's been two days already and if I were him I'd be pretty angry about now."

"This isn't over." Jacob threatened before turning and signalling to some men to follow him towards the trail towards Choquequirao.

"I'll count on it." Nate called back over his shoulder.

"What did you do?" Chloe asked as their group began to make their way back down the mountain.

"I bought us some time. If we can get to the Island of the Sun before the others I can set this whole thing up so it's in our favour.

"How so?" Chloe asked.

"From what I've worked out, inside the temple of the sun there's a large stone pedestal, you place the golden disk into that pedestal, place the eye into the disk, then recite an ancient incantation spoken in Kiohma."

Sully raised an eyebrow. "And what does that get you?"

"The Sun god Inti will grant immortality, in return for a sacrifice of a truly pure being."

"What does that even mean?" Elena was more than frustrated. Nate placed his hand on her belly.

"What could be more pure than a newborn baby? Or that's what Lawson thinks."

"The sick son-of-a-bitch." Sully said.

"Elena's not even due yet, what's he going to do, cut it out with a Stanley knife?" Chloe was only half joking as she asked it.

"I think that's exactly what he's thinking, he's deranged." Nate replied.

Elena stopped in her tracks and bent over into some bushes, retching up the few contents of her stomach. Nate stopped with her and rubbed her back comfortingly. "He's not touching me." She managed after a few moments.

"He's not Elena, I won't let him. He won't touch either of you."

"Oh please share your grand plan Nate, because everything has gone wonderfully so far." Elena spat out snarkily.

"Hey, I'm doing the best I can here."

Chloe cut in. "Save the domestic's you two, Nate, your plan?"

"There was more than one inscription on the wall. From what I could roughly translate; if you don't perform the ritual exactly as described by the ancient Inca's, instead of immortality the wrath of Inti will reign down upon you. Personally I'm hoping for the melting faces, _Raiders of the Lost Arc_ styles."

"And Lawson has no idea about this second inscription?" Sully brought him back to reality.

"None. We need to drive down to Puno, and then get onto a boat. The temple is on an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca."

The group drove down to Puno as soon as they got their hands on a vehicle. Sully drove, Chloe was asleep in the passenger's seat and Nate and Elena tried to get some shut-eye in the back seat with little luck.

"Nate, are you awake?" Elena murmured to him.

"No." He responded, eyes staying closed.

"I need to ask you something." She was trying to keep her voice low, to maintain what little privacy their conversation could have in the small jeep.

"Shoot." Nate kept his eyes closed, trying very hard to go to sleep, he was exhausted.

"What happened in Connecticut?" Nate's eyes shot open.

"The museum heist?"

"You know what I'm asking about." She pushed gently.

"I'm so tired sweetheart; you might have to spell this out."

"Did you sleep with Chloe?" Elena was almost too afraid to ask.

"What? No...where did that come from?"

"Chloe came to me and said I had nothing to worry about between you and her."

"Did she just?"

"What happened Nate?"

"We found ourselves in a situation, the best way out of it was us...sharing a moment...up against a wall..."

"Against a wall!" Elena cut in, trying desperately to keep her voice down. "You said you didn't sleep with her?"

"We didn't! I swear. We just kissed, it was a distraction tactic. Later in our hotel room she wanted to continue but I made it clear, I wouldn't do that to you." Nate kissed the top of her head as she snuggled into his side. "Are we good?" He asked.

"Yeah." She told him closing her eyes "We're fine." Elena wanted to believe those words so badly. All of her fears were laid to rest as they walked through Puno towards the lake. They passed a Church and Nate grabbed her hand.

"Hey guys we've got ten minutes right?" He asked and started fishing around in one of his pockets.

"What are you thinking Kid?"

Nate pulled out a pair of titanium bands, one slightly larger than the other. "I found these in Choquequirao. I'm not sure what's going to happen out on that lake but whatever happens, it wouldn't feel right to me if I wasn't married to the mother of my child first. Whaddaya say? Marry me, right here, right now?"

"Is it even legal?" Elena laughed. She felt giddy, and silly not to take this chance that was in front of her.

"I don't care, if it's not, we'll fix up the papers when we get home, right now, I just want to marry you." He looked over at Sully. "Be my best man?"

"Of course, you crazy bastard." Sully was laughing now too.

"Elena Fisher, I love you, I promise to love you every day until I'm no longer breathing. I don't know why you put up with me, but I'm thankful for it every day. With this ring I promise to honour you, cherish you, and protect you, forever." He slipped his ring onto her finger.

"Nathan Drake, I am so lucky to have you in my life. It hasn't always been easy, but I don't regret anything, and I won't. You have brought so much to my life and I look forward to what you will continue to bring each and every day. With this ring I promise to stand by you, trust in you, and love you, forever." She slipped her ring onto his.

The Spanish priest blessed the rings, said a few more words, and it was complete. Nate and Elena kissed each other passionately and the happy couple left the Church overjoyed, knowing that no matter what was to come next, they had did it. They had gotten this far, and at that moment, nothing else mattered. They were man and wife. Soon they would be parents, and Elena wanted nothing more than to go home and begin the next phase of their lives together. Nate however, had an impending feeling of dread that things might not be that simple.


	10. Something Better

**AN: **Well after however many months hiatus I finally sat down and finished this. Something I've wanted to do for a long time now...so does anyone still read Uncharted fics...I sure hope so. Anyway a big thank you to all my readers, and especially all the team at Naughty Dog for giving us these amazing characters to play with, and of course Nolan North and Emily Rose and the rest of the cast, whom without the inspiration for this would cease to be.

Please note this chap has a slightly higher rating on it for adult themes.

* * *

**Something Better**

Nate, Elena, Sully and Chloe hired two row boats in order to get out to the temple in the middle of Lake Titicaca. Sully and Chloe were in one while Nate and his new wife were in the other. Nate rowed fiercely trying to reach the temple in record time.

"Why are you so worried, we have plenty of time on Lawson, it would have taken Jacob and his crew two days at least to dig him out of that rubble?" She asked him.

"I'm not leaving anything to chance Elena. He's been one step ahead of me at every turn. I'm willing to bet he's not as far behind us as we would like."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I just need to get in there, look at the temple, I need to try and find some inscriptions; I need to find the right one." Nate looked across at Elena. "I will protect you; and the baby; I swear."

She smiled. "I know; I believe in you." Her hand lay protectively across her belly. Nate docked their rowboat on the pier of the island and leaned across to her. Nate took just a moment to caress her face and kiss her gently.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I love you too Nate."

The four companions left their boats, Nate and Chloe ran out ahead and Sully helped Elena towards the temple.

"Are you ready for this?" Chloe asked him as they loaded their guns.

"As ready as I'll ever be; let's go."

The temple was a set of magnificent ruins. One large singular round room with a pedestal in the centre. Large stone columns held up the room. Before Nate could take in his surroundings fully Frederick and Jacob immerged from behind the columns toting their guns. Along with another four armed foot soldiers.

"Shit." Chloe muttered.

"Really?" Nate exclaimed sarcastically.

"Guns down please." Lawson instructed.

"How did you get here?" Nate asked. "We were two days ahead of you!" His voice now carried the tone of a frustrated child about to throw the world's largest tantrum.

"You seem to forget Mr Drake that I have an army at my disposal. I was lifted from the mountainside by a helicopter once Jacob retrieved me from the rubble. I was here before your party reached Puno."

Frederick's gaze wandered straight over to Elena and she tried to take a step back only to be met with the gun wielding soldiers. He walked over to her slowly, taunting with his voice as he did so.

"Now my dear…are you going to help me create history? Will you be the catalyst needed to bring immortality into this world?" He reached out and touched her face. She shrugged it away from him as best she could.

"Don't you dare touch me."

Nate had to do something and fast. "How do you know this is going to work?" All eyes switched focus onto him now. "If you're going to murder my unborn child it would be nice to know that it's not all for nothing."

Jacob pointed his gun over at his rival. "Shut up Drake. No-one asked you."

"Now now Jacob; there's no need for that. He actually makes a valid point. Perhaps you would all care for a little demonstration." Lawson crossed the room and retrieved a large ceremonial spear from the centre of the pedestal. For the ritual to work we need the blood of a truly pure being." He crossed back to Drake. "Do you believe Mr Drake?"

"It doesn't matter what I believe."

"On the contrary; I believe it does." He aimed his gun at Nathan's chest and pulled the trigger.

Nate stumbled backwards with a searing pain coursing through his entire body. His hands clutched at his wound and quickly became clammy with all of his blood. He fell to the ground and could faintly make out Elena's screams. Nate began gasping and Sully was quick to his side to try and hold him upright.

"What was the goddamn point in that?" Sully yelled at their captors.

"If Mr Drake wants to save his life then he will recite the incantation. I will use Ms Fisher's blood for the sacrifice as it should suffice, being of the same blood as the child's, however when it comes to my own ceremony I'm not leaving anything to chance." He rubbed his hand over her bump making Elena cringe.

"He's barely coherent; you're mad!" Chloe argued but Lawson wasn't hearing it. He dragged Elena by the arm up onto the ceremonial pedestal. Jacob retrieved the Eye of Inti from Drake's satchel and handed it to Lawson. He put the gold disk into place, then the eye before making a clean cut down Elena's forearm with the ceremonial spearhead.

"That's going to leave quite the scar." He complimented.

"Go to hell." She spat.

He forced her arm onto the pedestal and dripped the blood into the centre. "If you wish to live beyond the hour Mr Drake I would at least try to co-operate." Lawson reminded him.

Nate's concentration was a mess, he could barely focus on anything except the pain and how everything would be so much easier if he just closed his eyes. He could hear Elena crying out to him; "Nate please, you can't give up now, please Nate, come back to us." Nate forced his eyes open and glanced around the room trying to read the text on the walls before dropping his head in exhaustion.

"This is hopeless." Sully cursed.

"Nate's Journal, quick, he wrote it down." Chloe grabbed it out of his satchel and thrust it at Sully. Sully held it in front of Nate's face.

"Come on kid, just recite the words back, I know you can do it. They're right here; just say them out loud and this will all be over."

Nate could only force one eye open; thankfully he knew most of the incantation by memory. He whispered out the words in Kihoma; barely escaping his lips. After a moment or two it was clear that he had done something right. A golden glow began to surround the pedestal. The wound in Nate's chest began to close over but not before forcing the small piece of shrapnel out. The pain began to lessen and Nate felt as though he could breathe again. He stopped bleeding and slowly forced himself to his feet.

The others couldn't believe their eyes. "There is a God." Sully exclaimed for the first time in his life.

"Maybe; but he's sure got a twisted idea of a good time." Nate joked.

"Was it really the best idea making Nate immortal though, I mean if he's immortal and you're immortal how do you plan on killing each other?" Sully asked their captor.

"Oh Mr Drake will not be immortal. The small amount of blood from Ms Fisher's arm was only enough to save his life. It was not a large enough sacrifice in the eyes of the Incans." Lawson's eyes once again were fixed on Elena. "They require death, in order to grant immortal life." He moved closer to Elena with the spear in hand.

Nate, Sully and Chloe all tried to move in and stop what was about to happen but were met with shotguns aimed at them. Elena tried to struggle against Lawson's powerful grip. She glanced over at Jacob; her one friend and ally that had been with her through all of this. She pleaded to him with her eyes to do something to help her. Miraculously it worked, Jacob rushed forward and tried to wrestle the spear away from Lawson and in the struggle; Frederick managed to manoeuvre it into Jacob's chest.

"That'll work." Nate was shocked by the turn of events and quickly began to recite a different series of Kihoma script. One that even in the foreign language sounded a bit more dark and sinister. Jacob gasped in pain as blood began to form in his mouth, he didn't have long. Elena grasped his hand.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"I'm sorry." He told her before the life left him.

The ground began to shake like the Earth itself wanted to open and a series of glowing blue lights began to spring forth from the pedestal. Gathering speed they shot forth and pierced through Lawson and all of his foot soldiers who all started to writhe in pain.

"What did you do?" Frederick shouted at Drake.

"Enjoy a life of eternal damnation asshole!" Nate told Lawson a moment before he was literally torn apart from the inside out.

"Gruesome." Sully observed.

"I don't get it." Chloe asked. "Does that mean anyone could have been killed by the spear and the hocus pocus would have still done its job?"

"Not exactly." Nate answered. "What Lawson didn't realise is that if the victim had pure intentions, it translates the same as a pure heart."

Not only was the ground shaking but the island was beginning to tear itself apart and it was going to bring the temple down with it. A relieved Elena looked over at Jake's body and smiled sadly, she knew he was one of the good guys after all. But her sense of relief only lasted a moment before she felt a large burst of pain hit her tummy. Something was not ok. Elena started moaning and hunching herself over as best she could. Nate ran over to her, if it wasn't enough that the ground they were standing on was collapsing.

"Sweetheart what's wrong?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure." She managed in between gasps. "Something's not right."

Nate helped her down onto the ground. "Is the baby coming?"

"No, no it can't be; it's too early." It was then they noticed the blood. Too much blood.

"You're bleeding, shit. We have to get you to a hospital."

She grasped his hand. "Nate…..I think I'm losing it…"

He tried to reassure her, comfort her anything. "Let's just get you out of here ok? Wait to see what the doctor can tell us."

Sully came over and helped Nate to lift her, taking one arm each, and hoisting her over their shoulders.

* * *

They made a break for the boats, only to find that the pier was now out of reach on the other side of a large chasm. One of the boats had come loose from the pier and drifted off and out to sea. The remaining boat was fastened to the dock, but the now choppy water was thrashing it around and into the path of sinking rocks and debris.

"There's only one boat!" Chloe exclaimed.

"There's going to be no boats if we don't get it away from those rocks." Sully warned.

Right on cue Nate dove into the icy water. Resurfacing he gasped as the cold hit his lungs. "Shit that's cold." He swam over to the boat and started hacking away at the rope that held it to the pier. Just in time he managed to pull it away from the rocks that threatened to sink it, he climbed up into it and steered it towards the others.

"There's not enough room. We'll sink it for sure." Sully warned. The group looked to Nate for guidance. How could they choose who would take the boat? His teeth were still chattering and his lips were blue. He helped Elena on to the boat carefully before strapping a life-jacket to himself. Sully and Chloe stepped in, and it swayed precariously. Nate stepped back onto the island. "You three take the boat, go get help."

"You're crazy. You can't stay here, you'll freeze or you'll drown, whatever comes first." Elena argued.

Chloe eyed the remaining life jacket hesitantly before strapping onto herself and stepping back onto the sinking pier next to Nate.

"You'll be faster with just two. Now go, you're wasting time."

"She's right. The sooner we get back to the mainland the sooner we can get help." Sully picked up the oars and started to row away from the pier.

"Sully, take her straight to a hospital." Nate called back at them. Elena stared at Nate, knowing this could be the last time they saw each other. He smiled at her bravely, trying to hide the fact he couldn't stop shivering. That water was freezing, if the island went under before they got back….. When they were out of sight Nate turned to Chloe.

"You didn't have to do this."

"I know." She was trying to hide the fear in her voice. This could really be it this time.

"You know there's a high probability of us drowning before they get back."

"I know." She looked around at the island, it was still shaking, and there was no way of knowing how much time was left before they would be underwater. "I'll bet we'll buy some more time by climbing to the top of the ruins." She suggested.

"Good idea. Let's go." He agreed.

Climbing the ruins was difficult, the whole island was rocking like one constant earthquake; but they were both glad when they made it to the top. They would sink last, buying them maybe another ten minutes before hitting the water. They didn't have a lot to do, except hope, pray, and make small talk of course.

"I'm so sorry about the baby Nate. After everything you two have been through."

He looked at her; Chloe had genuine empathy on her face. They both knew deep down that Elena was having a miscarriage. "Thank you." Nate replied. "I guess neither one of us were ready to be parents, maybe someone is telling us something."

"If you make it back home alive, hold onto that girl of yours. Most relationships don't get over something like this."

"Let's just focus on getting home alive first huh?" Nate's voice was still shaking from being in the water, he wasn't very optimistic knowing how cold it was. They could see the ground below them being covered in with water as the island continued to sink. It wasn't long now.

"Here we go…" Nate said.

"Jesus, I feel like I'm on the bloody Titanic." Chloe mused.

"Yeah well the same things about to happen. When we hit the water, the vacuum created by the land and the rocks sinking is going to pull us down. We'll have a better chance if we jump, try and beat the vacuum effect and swim to the surface."

"Are you crazy?"

"Trust me, you do not want to get sucked down deeper than if you had jumped, you won't make it up in time, even with the life-jackets."

"How cold do you think that water is?"

"Maybe ten degrees, if we're lucky."

"Shit that's cold."

"You have no idea."

"How long do you think we'll last in water that cold?"

"An hour, maybe two."

"It takes an hour to reach the mainland." Chloe studied the look on Nate's face as she said it and realised that he knew the odds all along. "Nate." There were only minutes left.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad to have known you." She took his hand, and he squeezed it.

"Don't forget to take a deep breath….and jump now!"

They launched off of their tower falling rapidly, they let go of their hands right after jumping, and as they hit the water both of them sank deep down. Chloe went into shock, her lungs contracted, and it took more than a moment before she could snap out of it. She reminded herself that she was supposed to be swimming so she started kicking furiously to reach the surface. Nate on the other hand had been prepared for the temperature and the shock and had managed to reach the surface fairly quickly. He looked around for Chloe, and after a moment of her not surfacing he started calling out to her. He was just about to dive under to look for her when her head burst up, gasping for air.

"Jesus Christ." She managed after a moment.

There was nothing left; the only sign there had been a land mass where they now floated was the choppiness of the water.

"I know; it's cold."

"It's gone, everything's gone." Chloe was shivering already. "What do we do?"

"Just try and float Chloe; that's why we're wearing life jackets. We just have to keep it up until Sully comes back."

After an hour in the water Nate saw that Chloe was on the verge of passing out. He took her hand and shook it. "Chloe! Chloe!"

"It's so cold."

"I know, but Sully will be coming for us any minute now, that's why you have to stay awake." He pleaded.

"I just want to close my eyes, and when I open them this will all be over."

"You can't go to sleep, just stay awake a little longer."

"How will they find us?"

"I still have my gun, it's got four rounds left, when the boat comes close I'll shoot them off so they can hear where we are."

"That might work."

"I hope so."

All they could do is talk. The water was so still now, and they had to concentrate on something to stay alive.

After almost two hours in the cold water and the night air Nate could see lights coming from a boat in the distance. He reached for his gun and almost dropped it in his eagerness. Hands shaking he raised it into the air and let off one bullet. Waiting ten seconds he let of a second one, ten more seconds and he let the third one off, he was beginning to lose hope, how would they hear his bullets over the sound of the engine? He really didn't want to use his last bullet. After another few seconds the bright glare of the ships searching beacon hit his body full force. It had worked! He was shifting in and out of consciousness as they lifted him aboard, and once he was certain everything was going to be ok he let himself succumb to the darkness under his eyelids. Everything was ok…until he opened his eyes again, finding himself in yet another hospital bed.

* * *

He was drowsy as hell, he could make out Sully sitting next to him, and if he turned his head he could see Elena asleep in the bed next to him.

"Is she ok?" Nate managed to croak out hoarsely.

"I'm so sorry kid….."

"No." Nate cut him off.

"They couldn't save the baby, I'll let the doctor explain it, wait here." Sullivan stood up; it was a time where there were just no words that he knew that would do any good.

Nate zoned right out, he managed to make out a few words here and there, but mostly he didn't want to listen. He heard Sullivan bring the doctor over to him, heard the words "this is the father" and the doctor saying words like "placental abruption". Sully tried to comfort him "it's just one of those things, its no-bodies fault."

When Nate decided to talk again he asked how Elena was coping. Sully told her that she didn't know yet, they had to knock her out and at that stage they hadn't know what was causing the bleeding. Nate wanted to wake her up but reconsidered when Sully said "Just let her rest for now, while she can. When she wakes up she's going to need you, you're going to need each other. "

The doctor came over again, asking Nate the difficult questions like did he want to see the baby, did he want to hold him? He was washed and wrapped up and looked just like he was sleeping. Sometimes it helps to accept what's happened.

Him? It had been a boy. That was all Nate had taken in from what he had been told. After an hour or so to think about it Nate asked Sully to come with him down to see his son.

"He looks just like Elena." Sully's hand was on Nate's shoulder as he looked at the small body. "Look at the nose, that's her nose." Nate choked back a sob. "Shit. Sully…he's gone, he's…"

"I know kid, I know." Sully drew Nate into a hug and just held him as he let everything out. He had never wanted to be a father yet, but now that it was all over, he wished he could take those feelings back, that it might have changed things. When Nate climbed back into his bed he asked where Chloe was, the last time he had seen her was in the water next to him; but even then it was hazy.

Sullivan pulled an envelope out of his pocket. "She wanted me to give you this. Her hypothermia wasn't nearly as severe as yours; it didn't take long for the doctors to discharge her."

Nate ripped the envelope and unfolded the paper.

_Nate_

_I wanted to say again how truly sorry I am about everything. I would have stuck around until you woke up but I figure you and Elena are going to need some space from everyone for a while. Look after her Nate, she's something special. As for me I'm on the first plane out to London, I'm off to meet an old friend of ours, you remember Charlie don't you? Take care my friend, and if you're ever in need of my help, you've got my number. _

_XOXO _

_Chloe_

* * *

Elena woke up to Nate holding her hand, he was nodding off in his chair, and he looked exhausted. Everything hurt. She didn't want to look down at her body; it would only confirm what she already felt. The sense of loss was overwhelming. The baby was no longer inside of her, and she knew from the amount of blood she was losing when she was still conscious that the odds of it still being alive were next to nothing. Once her husband realised she was awake he sat up, trying to look alert, like he wasn't on the verge of exhaustion.

"Hey…" She croaked out hoarsely.

"Hey." He replied, gently rubbing her hand.

"You're still alive…I thought you were going to drown."

"Not a chance." He smiled at her. "I'm not going anywhere."

"The baby?"

"He's gone honey." Nate said as gently as he could.

Elena didn't react at all. She was still in shock.

"It was a boy?"

"Yeah. He's beautiful Elena, he looks just like you."

"You've seen him?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, just interested.

"Just for a minute…Sully went with me; that was all I could manage."

"I see." Elena didn't see. She didn't see how any of this was fair.

"Maybe when you're a bit stronger, and you've had some time, you'll want to see him too…" Nate didn't want to push her, but he didn't know what to say, or how to comfort her either.

"Maybe." Elena told him. "For now, I think I just want some more sleep."

"Of course." He smiled, trying to be strong for her. "I'll be here when you wake up."

Elena rolled over away from him, and closed her eyes, letting the tears slide down her cheeks freely now. She slept for a few hours before deciding that she wanted to get the hardest part over and done with. She told the nurse that she wanted to see her baby and asked if she could bring him to her bedside. The nurse brought the small infant in, wrapped up tightly. He was so little, had he survived he would have been so premature. Elena reached her arms out, signalling that she wanted to hold him. The baby was placed in her arms and Nate put his arms around Elena's shoulder.

She smiled sadly, Nate had been right he was beautiful.

"He's so little." She turned her head to look at her husband. "Do you think if I had gone back to Lima, when you first found me, when you were trying to send me back with Sully…?"

Nate cut her off. "You can't think like that. Elena this isn't your fault. "

"He looks just like he's sleeping, I keep hoping that maybe he'll open his eyes…" She cracked then, and started crying. Nate hugged her tighter and kissed her on the forehead.

"We'll get through this…maybe not today, not tomorrow, but we will. We'll be ok. "

* * *

When Elena was well enough to be discharged, her, Nate and Sully booked seats on the first flight home. They packed up their little boy and flew him home as well so they could bury him in their own country. It took them a long time to choose a name, partly because as soon as they named him it became all too real. Once they returned home Nate and Elena tried to return to normal life as quickly as possible.

They walked through the doors of their apartment, the living room was still trashed, bookcase tipped over, mess everywhere. They went into the bedroom, the lamp still laid broken on the floor, the bedside table tipped over; everything remained untouched from where it fell seven months ago.

"Honey why don't you go take a hot bath, relax for a while, I'll clean this mess up." He caressed her face with his hand, tucking back her fringe behind her ear.

"Thank you." She leaned up and kissed his lips softly.

Nate spent the next hour and a half putting the apartment back in order, trying to erase every record of what had happened here. Elena opened the door of the bathroom, steam wafted out, she was wrapped only in a fluffy bath towel. Her blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders. She walked over to Nate who had just finished with the bookcase.

He put his hands on her side, "Good bath?"

"Mhmm." She nodded. Elena put her hands down to the hem of his shirt and pulled it up over his head before dropping it to the floor.

"What are you doing?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and leant up so her lips were mere inches from his. "Make me forget Nate, make me forget about everything please."

His lips claimed hers then, he lifted her up, her legs interlocked around his hips. Her towel joined his shirt on the floor and he carried her into their bedroom.

Nate lay her down onto the freshly made bed his pants getting lost somewhere in the process. He was inside her within seconds, not even bothering with protection, it didn't seem important, not after everything they'd been through. She didn't halt him either, if they got pregnant again so be it. Maybe it would finally make Nate settle down once and for all. He kissed her over and over; their bodies clung to each other as he thrust into her again and again. After her first orgasm he pulled out and moved down her body, using his lips, tongue and hands to set her on fire. He was relentless when he settled in between her legs, making her gasp, making her moan, and begging him to stop. Her cries only made him suck harder; he started rubbing his thumb across her clit. She bucked into his mouth; he'd forgotten how amazing she tasted. Nate rose back up to lie on top of her, he thrust back inside her and within a few minutes he stilled above her, moaning her name as he finished. He rolled off of her and lay outstretched on his back and Elena curled up into his side, still recovering from what he had just done to her.

* * *

The weeks rolled on from there, they had the funeral service, which was small and intimate. They slowly eased themselves back into work, and life was looking good for the couple. Elena still held out hope that she would fall pregnant again, but each month when her period came right on time; she began to get discouraged. They hadn't talked about trying again, but she was certain that it would fix everything and when Nate had asked her she said she was back on the pill. She hated lying to him, but at the same time was too scared to ask him if he wanted to have another baby. Nate made a huge effort to stay around home during those first few months, but inevitably something new and exciting caught his attention. Sully was coming around all the time now, it was something about a Katherine Marlowe, and who could forget Nate's ongoing obsession with Francis Drake.

"It's Drake's ring! Marlowe's taking the bait!" Nate exclaimed to Sully in the living room one afternoon, he was so excited.

"We'll set up an exchange, Katherine's not an idiot; she'll send someone to do her dirty work."

Elena paced back and forth in the bedroom nervously. Her editor wasn't going to wait much longer. She had to decide whether she wanted to take the Foreign Correspondent job overseas. She could hear Nate and Sully in the living room, they were planning another trip. A big one.

"Nate? Can I talk to you?" She asked, motioning for him to come into the bedroom.

"What's up?"

She held up her cell phone. "Nate, that was my editor, I just found out where they want to post me, if I take the job."

"Oh great, somewhere warm and sunny I hope." His tone wasn't malicious; for once he was being supportive of her work.

"Yemen."

"Yemen? As in, the Arabian Peninsula; Yemen?"

"Yeah, that Yemen." She confirmed.

Nate furrowed his brow. "For how long?"

"A few months, maybe longer."

Nate's brow furrowed. "So what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that if you decide this thing with Sully isn't worth your while, that I'll turn it down, stay here."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think that sounded like blackmail." He had pulled the pin out of the metaphorical grenade.

"What are you talking about; I'm not trying to blackmail you."

"I know you don't want me to go, but you don't understand, I think we're onto something that I've been searching for since I was a kid. This is important to me."

"Our marriage is important to me Nate. I'm starting to think that maybe you don't have the same priorities."

"Oh that's rich, talking about priorities, you're going to pack a bag and fly off to Yemen…"

"I'm only thinking about it, but right now Yemen's looking pretty damn good, so why don't you keep pushing."

"Well Sully and I are flying to London. You do what you want." He walked out of the bedroom and Elena slammed the door shut behind him. Crying now, she pulled her bag out of the closet and began to pack.

When she heard her taxi outside, Elena walked over to the front door. "So, I guess I'll see you around Nate? Sully, it's been fun."

Nate jumped on her words straight away; he hadn't actually thought she would leave. "You're the one who said yes when I asked you to marry me, I wondered how long it would take before you regreted that decision."

"Would you stop acting like a child, of course I wanted to marry you!"

"Then why won't you start acting like my wife and support me on this?"

"Oooh Nate…you're really pushing it this time. You really think I want you to go off on another silly crusade, you're running out of lives here, you'll head off on one of these treasure hunts and not come home, you think I want that? You think I want to bury my husband as well?"

"You knew who I was when you said those vows Elena."

"I thought you were ready to settle down, start a family. Whatever happened to the white picket fence?"

"Well you thought wrong."

"So now this is my fault?" She threw her hands up in the air. "I'm not even going to try and reason with you when you're like this." Elena walked into the bedroom and lifted her bag over to the door, Nate following her every move as she did so. "I'm going to Yemen, my taxi's here."

"Go to Yemen then."

"You really want to leave things like this?" She held the tears back, like hell was she going to cry in front of him.

"I'm not sure what I want anymore." Now he was just pushing her away.

"Well I have a plane to catch so maybe when you work it out you can let me know!" Elena started hauling her suitcase down the stairs towards her waiting taxi.

Nate stormed to the top of the stairs, tugging at his wedding band as he does so. "You want to take off to Yemen, but when I want to fly to London with Sully it's a big deal?"

"You just don't get it Nate." She called back up the stairs.

"Fine!" He threw his ring at her in a dramatic fashion. It missed fantastically and hit the taxi, rebounding off of the metal and landing who knows where. "Have a nice flight!" He yelled sarcastically before marching back inside and slamming the front door. He found Sully on the other side, arms folded, and foot tapping at the floor with one eyebrow raised.

"What?" Nate snapped at him.

"I really have to spell it out for you kid?"

"Hey, she's the one that left."

"It's not too late, the girl's in a taxi driving to the airport; call her."

"I'd rather call the airport, book those tickets to London"

"Nate, you love her."

Nate raised his voice; "Sully would you just drop it?"

Sully raised his hands up in defence, before saying "Fine….forget I mentioned it."

Sully thought about calling Elena himself, asking her if there was any way that her and Nate could work this out, finally deciding that it would be crossing too big a line. He knew the two of them would have to work it out themselves. He did make one small contribution though, as him and Nate were hauling their own bags into a taxi a month or so later, Sully's eye caught a glimpse of something lodged between the cracks in the pavement.

"Hold up a second Nate, my shoe's loose." He used the excuse to bend down and when he saw Nate's wedding band sitting there untouched, he swiftly pocketed it, hoping that one day it would come in handy.

* * *

Elena was doing well for herself in Yemen. The weeks passed before she could keep track of the time. Before she knew it she had been in the Arabian Peninsula twelve months. It was hard not to think about Nate, especially when their wedding anniversary came around, what would have been their son's first birthday, but normally she managed to lead a happy un-Nate-like life. Then the phone call came that changed everything. She didn't recognise the number and figured it was a new work contact.

"Elena Fisher." She answered.

"Elena, it's been too long."

"Sully?"

"The one and only. How have you been?"

"Good thanks; I'm a little surprised to hear from you…"

"I'm afraid I have an ulterior motive. If I were to require two press passes for unopposed access through the streets of Yemen, would you be the journalist to ask?"

"Press passes, really?" Elena wasn't going to make it easy for him.

"You would be doing me a huge favour."

"So I'm going to need you to email me some photo ID, you said two press passes? One for yourself and I bet I can guess who the second one is for."

"Look, I know the two of you have had your differences but we need these quickly and without any fuss, we don't have anyone else to call."

"When you say quickly?"

"As soon as possible."

Elena sighed. "I'll see what I can do, give me twenty-four hours." Elena hung up her phone. "Damn! How did he talk me into that?" She fingered the wedding band that she still wore. She promised herself this wouldn't lead to anything. Her relationship with Nate was over and she was determined to keep it that way.

* * *

Nate was far too quiet on the flight to Yemen. Sully kept looking over at him until he couldn't resist anymore. "You're not still sore about the fact we had to call your ex for help are you?"

"What? No…." After a moment he said "what am I supposed to say to her?"

"Hello would be a start."

"Don't be a wise-ass." Nate was not in the mood.

"I'm sorry, look, just try and be civil will you?"

"After the last time we spoke?"

"Hey, she had just as much right to be pissed off at you, as you were at her. You have to admit kid you were being a bit of an asshole."

"Oh thanks." Nate huffed and folded his arms.

"Try and be the bigger person?"

Nate closed his eyes in response, dreading every minute that passed as they brought him closer to the girl he had been trying so hard to close out of his life; and his heart.

She was still wearing her wedding band. "It helps in this part of the world" pfft, Nate didn't buy it. She agreed to get him and Sully their press passes. She took responsibility for them inside the city. She still cared, she had to. Maybe when all of this was over….Nate scolded himself, telling him to snap out of it. Then again this is what they do, they fight, the break up, the see each other again and they make up. Then again, how many times would they both be willing to do this dance?

* * *

"I'm sorry." He whispered to her, lightly touching the wedding band that sat on Elena's finger before passing out from exhaustion. He actually apologised. After everything he had just been through, Nate would have done anything to make things right with Elena. He had almost missed his chance.

"I know." She told him gently as she laid her head on her hand to rest. That was it. It was all over. She knew then that if they both made it through this alive, she would be packing up her bags. Even if they didn't start seeing each other right away, if they were in the same city, maybe they had a chance.

* * *

"I'm really sorry about your ring." She leant up and touched the skin where it usually sat. She really was sorry, as much as she hated the obsession; she knew that it was a huge part of him.

"It's all right." He placed his hand over hers. "I swapped it for something better."

Elena's eyes grew wide as she saw the wedding band that sat once again on his finger, and her smile was gorgeous. He hugged her, and she wrapped her arms around him so tightly. She breathed him in, he was here, he was in front of her, and he finally wanted to be her husband.

When they reached their apartment Nate wanted to prove it to her.

Elena dropped her bag on the floor. "So…I was thinking we could freshen up then go grab some take-out, have some dinner?"

Nate dropped his on the floor and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her close to him.

"I was thinking we could skip dinner, go straight to dessert?"

"Oh? What exactly did you have in mind?" She teased him, she knew exactly what he was thinking, or at least she thought she did.

"How about making a baby?"

His comment completely floored her…flustered she managed to respond; "Excuse me?"

"I want the picket fence Elena, I want you."

She kissed him, long and hard, she couldn't stop kissing him as she pulled him into their bedroom.

Sully's words resounded in Nate's head, "real greatness, is what you do with the hand you're dealt." Elena was his hand now, and he swore to himself that this time, he wouldn't fold. Ever.


End file.
